CATHARINE MARIA SEDGWICK: AN AMERICAN LITERARY BIOGRAPHY (MASSACHUSETTS).
Item
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Title
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CATHARINE MARIA SEDGWICK: AN AMERICAN LITERARY BIOGRAPHY (MASSACHUSETTS).
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Identifier
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AAI8708265
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identifier
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8708265
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Creator
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GILES, JANE.
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Date
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1984
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Literature, American
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Abstract
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Catharine Maria Sedgwick (1789-1867) was one of the early novelists to achieve popularity in the United States. Her first novels appeared in the 1820's, not long after James Fenimore Cooper's books were hailed as authentic American novels. Like Cooper, Sedgwick received attention on both sides of the Atlantic. Sedgwick's novels were notable for their use of local color and for a didactic strain which dominated her fiction by the 1830's. This study focuses on three of her novels and three of the didactic tales that she produced in the later part of her career.;Sedgwick's first novel, A New-England Tale (1822), is set in the author's native Massachusetts. An orphan girl is mistreated by her ostensibly pious relatives until she is rescued by her marriage to a Quaker gentleman. Redwood (1824), Sedgwick's second novel, is about another orphan girl. Ellen Bruce is raised by a Vermont farming family. Henry Redwood and his daughter, Southerners on holiday, stay at the farm while they recuperate from a carriage accident. It is ultimately discovered that Ellen is Redwood's daughter from his early marriage to a servant. Hope Leslie (1827) is an historical novel set in a Puritan colony during the Indian Wars of the seventeenth century. Hope and her sister Faith stay with a family named Fletcher until Faith is captured in an Indian raid. Hope is pursued by a villainous speculator and marries Fletcher's grown son.;In her later years Sedgwick became increasingly involved in charity work. She authored several didactic books and numerous short stories for children. Her three most popular works were written in the mid-1830's: Home, The Rich Poor Man and the Poor Rich Man, and Live and Let Live. The main characters serve as models of Christian behavior; they better themselves through self-education and hard work and follow the Golden Rule.;Today Catharine Sedgwick's works have historical significance. They serve as indicators of popular tastes in fiction in mid-nineteenth century America. Her inclusion of numerous details enhance our picture of everyday life in her time.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
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Program
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English
