The purpose of this conference paper is to examine how Jonathan Carver's Travels Through America, 1766-1768 appeals to two different audiences--American and British--and how his text, first published in London in 1778, attempts to construct Native American culture and society for his readers. I will argue that Travels is not merely a conventional travel narrative in which Carver borrows from his contemporary travel writers, which many critics have argued (e.g. Percy Adams). Rather, the text reflects a Loyalist's efforts to appeal to two different audiences at odds with one another by ostensibly promoting an idea of civilizing the Native Americans in the mid-western and western regions of America. These efforts, in turn, reflect a larger issue of ambiguity behind Euro-American identity construction.
Carver's Travels was extremely popular for its time, going through numerous editions in America and Britain. Many readers, particularly those in England, regarded the text as a reliable source of information about the western regions of America and its indigenous people. Others, mostly American critics, increasingly challenged to what extent Carver actually wrote the book, and to what extent he actually experienced all he related to his audience, in the late eighteenth century. Eventually, most American readers dismissed the book as fictional by the nineteenth century. My argument will begin with examining why the book was popular, and the controversy surrounding its authenticity. Specifically, I will argue that the text's success and controversy were due, in large part, to Carver's attempt to appeal to both an America and a British audience, and his attempt to portray himself as not wholly aligned with either side. Carver does not wholly endorse British imperial tendencies--settling the land and reforming its Native American people--despite ostensibly appearing to do so in the opening and closing chapters of the text. Neither does Carver wholly endorse American nationalist tendencies. Rather, Carver never resolves what he is trying to appeal to: British imperial ambitions, or American nationalism.
This irresolution is most evident in Carver's depiction of Native American life and culture. Norman Gelb has claimed that the text is a reliable account of American Indian life. I will discuss at length Carver's accounts of the Native Americans he encounters, and show that his accounts are at times flattering, at other times combative, and throughout contradictory and ambivalent. Carver's attempt to "construct" Native Americans, in other words, actually "de-constructs" itself, due, I will argue, to the different audiences he is trying to address. Ultimately, Carver's text defeats its own purpose of claiming to accurately depict America and its people.
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