23 English eng Bell, Richard Contributor <p>The article examines the influence of <span data-start="1665" data-end="1697">Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's</span> <em data-start="1698" data-end="1728">The Sorrows of Young Werther</em> on reading culture and discussions of suicide in the United States during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. It argues that the phenomenon of "Werther Fever" extended beyond Europe and profoundly shaped American debates about sentimental reading, readerly sympathy, and the moral effects of literature. The study demonstrates that educators, critics, and religious leaders simultaneously feared that reading <em data-start="2154" data-end="2163">Werther</em> might encourage imitation or suicide while also using the novel to debate moral discipline, emotional regulation, and readers' ethical responsibilities. Ultimately, the article shows that reading in the early national period was understood as a powerful social practice capable of shaping both individual conduct and public values.<br></p> University of North Carolina Press 2011 pdf ISSN 0012-8163 Early American Literature In Werther's Thrall: Suicide and the Power of Sentimental Reading in Early National America mixed material University of North Carolina Press