A New Home, Who'll Follow?: or Glimpses of Western Life
by Caroline M. Kirkland
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Set in the frontier of Michigan int he 1830s, A New Home is the first realistic portrayal of western village life in the United States. Based on Caroline Kirkland's own experiences - and written from a woman's perspective - it narrates with a keen eye and wit the absorbing story of the establishment of the village of Montacute, Michigan. A New Home is a vivid contribution to a new kind of narrative developed during the antebellum period, ethnographic fiction. Kirkland highlights the show more importance and the drama of local practices and everyday life in Montacute. She traces the way two groups of settlers slowly adjust to each other - the old hands and the newcomers from the East;. Dramatizing differences of class and culture, she also shows how the groups finally form a genuine community and a new, diverse culture. Kirkland also gives ethnographic fiction an original twist: she satirizes the provincialism and the rigidity of both groups of settlers. After writing A New Home, Kirkland became a professional literary woman, working as an editor as well as a writer. In her introduction, Sandra Zagarell explores the implications of Kirkland's writing and professional career for our understanding of women, writing, and the world of literature in antebellum America. show lessTags
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- Canonical title
- A New Home, Who'll Follow?: or Glimpses of Western Life
- Original publication date
- 1839
- Epigraph
- Ladies--or fair ladies--I would wish you--or I would request you, or I would entreat you, not to fear--not to tremble; my life for yours.
- First words
- Our friends in the "settlements" have expressed so much interest in such of our letters to them, as happened to convey any account of the peculiar features of western life, and have asked so many questions, touching particula... (show all)rs which we had not thought worthy of mention, that I have been for some time past contemplating the possibility of something like a detailed account of our experiences.
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- Members
- 65
- Popularity
- 480,579
- Rating
- (3.80)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 7
- ASINs
- 2
