Catharine Sedgwick

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Born:	December 28, 1789
Died:	July 31, 1867
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Contents 1 Novels: 2 Reference

Catharine Maria Sedgwick (December 28, 1789 – July 31, 1867), was an American novelist of what is now referred to as domestic fiction.

Born in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, she was the daughter of a prosperous lawyer and successful politician, Theodore Sedgwick, who later became a judge of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court and Speaker of the United States House of Representatives. She was sent to study at a finishing school in Boston, and as a young woman she took charge of a school in Lenox. Sedgwick's conversion from Calvinism to Unitarianism led her to write a pamphlet denouncing religious intolerance that evolved into her first novel, A New-England Tale.

In 1827, her third novel Hope Leslie recounted a dramatic conflict between British colonists and Native Americans. The book earned a large readership and made her one of the most talked-about female novelists of the day. Sedgwick's writings involved American settings, combining patriotism with protestations against Puritan oppressiveness. Her topics would become important to the creation of a national literature enhanced through her detailed descriptions of nature. Sedgwick created spirited heroines who, as the focal point of her stories, did not conform to the stereotypical conduct of women at the time. In her later work, Married or Single, she put forth the bold idea that women should not marry if it meant they would lose their self-respect.

Much in demand, from the 1820s to the 1850s Catharine Sedgwick made a good living writing short stories for a variety of periodicals. Following her death in 1867, by the end of the 19th century she had been relegated to near obscurity. Interest in her works and an appreciation of her contribution to American literature was largely stimulated by the advent of low-cost electronic reproductions that became available at the end of the 20th century.

[edit] Novels:

Title: A New-England Tale Author: Catharine Sedgwick Jane Elton, orphaned as a young girl, grows up wanting to break free from the cruelty of her aunt. Along the journey of her life she finds a place in America through the help of people she encounters, people with different characters who represent various colors of moral, virtue and religion… A story that sheds light on outlook towards women, and its key role play in shaping once a young nation.

(1822)

Title: Hope Leslie Author: Catharine Sedgwick The story begins in England with William Fletcher, a young man involved with the Puritans who has decided to travel to the British colonies in America. He is in love with a girl named Alice, whose father has forbidden her marriage to Fletcher on account of religious difference. Alice's father forces her to marry Charles Leslie instead. In the Bay colony, Fletcher he marries an orphan girl, Martha, associated with the Winthrops. After living in Boston, Massachusetts for a while, William moves the family to the newly founded Springfield, Massachusetts.

(1827)

Title: The Linwoods Author: Catharine Sedgwick Set during the American Revolution, a historical romance addresses issues of virtuous citizenship, civic identity, and the political development of the nation. It tells the story of two families: the Linwoods, who are loyalists, and the Lees, who are revolutionaries. Narrates the transformation of the Linwood children, especially the heroine, Isabella, from Tory to Rebel. In the process, Isabella not only rebels against British control of the colonies, but challenges the institution of slavery, gender norms, and patriarchal authority.

(1835)

[edit] Reference

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