Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2006 Mary Johnston, Discoverer, and Edith Wharton, Citizen in a Land of Letters Rhonna Jean Robbins-Sponaas Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact
[email protected] THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES MARY JOHNSTON, DISCOVERER, AND EDITH WHARTON, CITIZEN IN A LAND OF LETTERS By RHONNA JEAN ROBBINS-SPONAAS A Dissertation submitted to the Department of English in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Degree Awarded: Summer Semester, 2006 Copyright © 2006 Rhonna Jean Robbins-Sponaas All Rights Reserved The members of the Committee approve the dissertation of Rhonna Jean Robbins-Sponaas defended on 28 March 2006. ______________________________ Dennis D. Moore Professor Directing Dissertation ______________________________ Elna C. Green Outside Committee Member __________________________________ Anne E. Rowe Committee Member ______________________________ W. T. Lhamon, Jr. Committee Member Approved: _____________________________________________ Hunt Hawkins, Chair, Department of English The Office of Graduate Studies has verified and approved the above named committee members. ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS When I first began this project, I did so with the intention of focusing on Edith Wharton. My reasons were varied and many, but not the least of those was that I find the “bridge” period of American literature—that period between the usual academic divisions of early American and modern American literature—particularly interesting. As a writer working in the craft today, the period of turning and shaping what had come before into the foundation of what we have now fascinates me.