{"product_id":"confession-or-the-blind-heart-william-gilmore-simms-9781611170269","title":"Confession; Or, the Blind Heart: A Domestic Story","description":"\u003cp\u003eBuilding out of his early experiences with writing in the psychological gothic mode in such texts as\u003ci\u003e Martin Faber\u003c\/i\u003e (1833) and \u003ci\u003eCarl Werner\u003c\/i\u003e (1838) and anticipating his later work\u003ci\u003e Castle Dismal\u003c\/i\u003e (1844), William Gilmore Simms published \u003ci\u003eConfession; or, The Blind Heart\u003c\/i\u003e in 1841. This novel is the extended confession of Edward Clifford who is orphaned at a young age and sent to be reared by his aunt and uncle in Charleston. Rising above his foster parents' scorn, Clifford becomes a lawyer, a prominent citizen, and a husband to his cousin, Julia. His turbulent childhood leaves him emotionally scarred and suspicious of human relationships, though, and thus he becomes increasingly jealous of his wife's friendship with his boyhood companion, William Edgerton. After failing to ease his paranoia by moving his family west to Alabama, Clifford poisons his wife and challenges Edgerton to a duel. Edgerton, however, commits suicide first. Thanks to posthumous letters from both Julia and Edgerton, Clifford realizes his mistaken assumptions and, at the end of the novel, wanders further west into untamed Texas in search of absolution. \u003ci\u003eConfession; or, The Blind Heart\u003c\/i\u003e marks an early, well-written study of domestic battery in American literature. \u003ci\u003eConfession\u003c\/i\u003e occupies an interesting space in the overlap between Simms's Border Romances and gothic narratives because of its elements of westward progression as well as psychological examinations.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e William Gilmore Simms\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1611170265\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781611170269\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e University of South Carolina Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 05\/21\/2015\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 398\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.40lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.97d","brand":"William Gilmore Simms","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":48518984859903,"sku":"9781611170269","price":32.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_75631ce8-e239-49f2-adbd-0e02f16d5be4.jpg?v=1778736391","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/confession-or-the-blind-heart-william-gilmore-simms-9781611170269","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}