November: 19th-century American women writers read-along

I’ve been reading Truth’s Ragged Edge: The Rise of the American Novel by Philip F. Gura and while it’s been enjoyable (more posts on that later) it has highlighted a huge gap in my reading. For anyone interested in the topic I highly recommend it, and for a taste of it go to one of the big online sellers to read the preface and Macmillan’s site for the first chapter. I realized I don’t think I have read more than one or two novels by a 19th-century American woman and I don’t think I’m alone in this. To remedy that, as a start, I’m planning on reading and posting on a few novels in November.

Here are a few authors and their works mentioned in the preface and first chapter. I haven’t started looking at availability but I think it’s a good starting point, which I’ll update as November approaches. If any of these interest you, please don’t feel like you have to wait until November to post on them. Just let me know you have covered something that qualifies in a post and I’ll include it in a round-up post. The topics cover many of the major topics of the day and several were bestsellers. The timeline and classification are loose (Gura effectively stops in the 1870s and several of Hannah Webster Foster ‘s and Susanna Rowson’s books were published a few years before 1800).

Catharine Maria Sedgwick
     Links to works

Lydia Maria Child
     Works at The Online Books Page
     eTexts at UVA

Susan Warner
     The Wide, Wide World
     Works at Project Gutenberg

Maria Cummins
     The Lamplighter at Internet Archive (and audiobook at LibriVox)

Harriet Beecher Stowe
     Works at The Online Books Page

Lillie Devereux Blake
     Southwold
     A Notable Woman: Lillie Devereux Blake at H-Net

Elizabeth Stoddard
     The Morgesons at Project Gutenberg
      Works at Project Gutenberg

Rebecca Harding Davis
     Margret Howth: A Story of Today at University of Virginia Library
     Works at Washington State University

Elizabeth Stuart Phelps
     Works at Project Gutenberg

Sarah Wentworth Apthorp Morton

Susanna Rowson
     Charlotte: A Tale of Truth at Project Gutenberg
     Rebecca; or, The Fille de Chambre
     Reuben and Rachel

Hannah Webster Foster
     The Coquette at Project Gutenberg
     The History of Eliza Wharton: a Novel Founded Fact
     The Boarding School; or, Lessons of a Preceptress to her Pupils

Tabitha Tenney
     Female Quixotism, Exhibited in the Romantic Opinions and Extravagant Adventures of Dorcasina Sheldon

Sally Wood
     Dorval; or The Speculator

Caroline Matilda Warren Thayer
     The Gamesters; or, Ruins of Innocence

Rebecca Rush
     Kelroy

Leonora Sansay
     Secret History; or, The Horrors of St. Domingo
     "Reconstructing Leonora Sanay", an essay by Jennifer van Bergen

(to be updated)

Upcoming: Fortunata and Jacinta read-along in October

At the start of the year, The Neglected Books Page posted on Fortunata and Jacinta as "The Greatest Novel You’ve Never Heard of." Please read that post about the book and follow the links provided—it's a great overview of the novel and introduction to Galdós. I seconded the enthusiasm for the novel and author and included a couple of excerpts. I somehow stumbled into the role of leading a read-along of the novel (I think it was "volunteered" for me), which I plan on starting in October. I'm posting in advance because (1) the book isn't currently in print in English, although it shouldn't be too hard to obtain a copy, and (2) it's a long novel.

I've read though my battered Penguin edition (pictured above) twice and agree with Neglected's recommendation of the translation by Agnes Moncy Gullón. I hope to provide some posts at the start that will help everyone joining in on the read-along. The Wikipedia page on the novel has a list of characters. I thought a post on the structure of the novel would be good and I'll post some additional links as it gets closer to October. If you have any ideas that would be helpful on enjoying the novel, please don't hesitate to let me know (either in comments or by e-mail—see my profile).

Some additional links on Galdós and the novel (more to come):

The Pérez Galdós Editions Project

Excerpts from a paper by Harriet Stevens Turner on Galdós (my excerpts focused on Galdós and his Torquemada novels, although there's some mention of Fortunata and Jacinta)

Speaking of the Torquemada novels, my posts on them are linked here.

the complete review's entry on Fortunata and Jacinta

Reading Fortunata and Jacinta is a significant commitment, but as Antonio Muñoz Molina said in a note for the PEN.org blog:

Reader: I am a novelist myself, and an avid fan of novels; this particular one taught me the glorious scope and the exhilarating freedom that a novel can provide, both as an art form to practice and as a reading experience to enjoy. You live in it. You move into it. You inhabit it. You get accustomed to it. It becomes part of the daily setting of your life, like your coffee mug or your computer or your dog. You scrape some extra minute to get back to it. You stay awake longer than you should to reach the end of a chapter. You walk the same streets the characters walk, overhear their conversations, visit the same cafés and street markets and bourgeois mansions and working-class slums and taverns.

I want to encourage you to join in, even if it's for only a hundred pages or more, so you can experience it with all of us. I look forward to all who join in!