The folk of Octave Thanet's creating have iron in their blood; their society is tonic. Of none of her characters is truer than of Amos Wickliff… Wickliff is among the most typically American figures in American literature; oak of the like grown was known to make Grant and Abraham Lincoln. The author qualifies these stories of him as 'incidents in the life of a plain man who tried to do his duty'.
Stalwart, rugged, steely-nerved, of undisciplined and 'reckless' grammar, with the gentlest heart under the most inflexible demeanour… A man capable of worshipping a woman with humble, selfless chivalry, and killing a man with a certain grim relish in dealing out indisputable deserts… ~ Boston Transcript
Details
| Copyright Date | 1898 |
|---|---|
| Publication Date | 1898 |
| Publisher | Harper & Brothers |
| Format | Hardcover |
| No. of Pages | 248 |
| Language | English |
| Notes | c. 1897/98 Author Alice French wrote under the name Octave Thane as an homage to her beloved Octavia Putnam with whom she shared a room and a bed during a year at Andover (a school). During the 1880s, French settled down with life-long partner Jane Allen Crawford. Their partnership was interrupted by Jane's 4-year marriage and then her tour of Europe. “While Octave Thanet is really a woman, Alice French of Iowa, she nevertheless writes like a man.” The Dial, May 1890. 'Alice French (Octave Thanet) (1850-1934) was a lesbian local colorist who wrote much about her adopted state of Arkansas. She wrote “lesbian-coded” stories that celebrated independent, financially self-sufficient, women-centered women.' |
| Rating | Not Rated |
| Genre | Fiction |