{"product_id":"the-algerine-captive-the-life-and-adventures-of-doctor-updike-underhill-six-years-a-prisoner-among-the-algerines-9781616402990","title":"The Algerine Captive: The Life and Adventures of Doctor Updike Underhill: Six Years a Prisoner Among the Algerines","description":"He wrote the first American comedy to be performed onstage, and here, in this extraordinary but sadly little-remembered 1797 novel, he anticipates the great literature of the coming American century. Here, in two volumes in one book, Royall Tyler tells the astonishing-and thoroughly fictional-tale of Boston gentleman and scholar Updike Underhill, whose life encompasses such extremes as fumblings with Greek poetry that almost lead him to a deadly duel and a stint as a surgeon on a slave ship. One of the first works of fiction to feel uniquely American, this combination of satire and sincerity begins, in Volume 1, as a comedy of manners and genteel adventure the likes of which Mark Twain would later make his own, and transforms, in Volume 2, into a sober tale of abolition and a striking consideration of what it meant, in those early days of the nation, to be an American. Fans of American literature should consider this a must-read. American playwright ROYALL TYLER (1757-1826), born William Clark Tyler, wrote many other plays, some of which have been lost, as well as novels, essays, and humorous verse.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Cosimo Classics","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50421757542674,"sku":"9781616402990","price":15.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_3f89618b-3b31-4abe-9fb3-349903905347.jpg?v=1729512698","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/the-algerine-captive-the-life-and-adventures-of-doctor-updike-underhill-six-years-a-prisoner-among-the-algerines-9781616402990","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}