Prophets, Publics, and Publication: The Case of John Brown.

Few people in all of American history have been so profoundly identified with the prophetic as John Brown. Prophetism has led a vigorous life in this country in religion and politics from the earliest days and shows no signs of waning now. American prophetism has also found a major outlet for its energies in artistic creation, particularly in literature. At the intersections of prophetism and print, this communications medium and this form of selfhood come into collision: if in one modality prophetism is hostile to print, in another it is in love with it, and seems to wish nothing so much as to seize this medium and make it its own.