Born this day in 1789: Catharine Maria Sedgwick (1789–1867), popular writer in the early American tradition
A
native of Stockbridge, Massachusetts, Sedgwick received a sporadic but good education, both
at home and away. At one time her name was uttered in the same breath as
that of James Fenimore Cooper and
Washington Irving as writers who invented American literature. Sedgwick wrote
historical novels, romances, and tales of moral instruction. Her best and
best-known novel is Hope Leslie (1827),
a story set in New England about conflicts between Puritan settlers and the
local native population. Instead of showing the noble white pitted against the
base savage, or the white woman as victim to rapacious Indians, the novel was
sympathetic to the injustices done to the Pequots and featured women as heroes.
It also boldly portrays romance and marriage between a white settler woman and
a Pequot man.
I welcome your feedback!
React, comment, subscribe below.
No comments:
Post a Comment