Recovering Jane Goodwin Austin
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Georgia State University ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University English Dissertations Department of English Summer 8-11-2015 "So Long as the Work is Done": Recovering Jane Goodwin Austin Kari Holloway Miller Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/english_diss Recommended Citation Miller, Kari Holloway, ""So Long as the Work is Done": Recovering Jane Goodwin Austin." Dissertation, Georgia State University, 2015. https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/english_diss/153 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of English at ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in English Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. “SO LONG AS THE WORK IS DONE”: RECOVERING JANE GOODWIN AUSTIN by KARI HOLLOWAY MILLER Under the Direction of Janet Gabler-Hover, PhD ABSTRACT The American author Jane Goodwin Austin published 24 novels and numerous short stories in a variety of genres between 1859 and 1892. Austin’s most popular works focus on her Pilgrim ancestors, and she is often lauded as a notable scholar of Puritan history who carefully researched her subject matter; however, several of the most common myths about the Pilgrims seem to have originated in Austin’s fiction. As a writer who saw her work as her means of entering the public sphere and enacting social change, Austin championed women and religious diversity. The range of Austin’s oeuvre, her coterie of notable friendships, especially amongst New England elites, and her impact on American myth and culture make her worthy of in-depth scholarly study, yet, inexplicably, very little critical work exists on Austin. This dissertation provides the most comprehensive biography of Austin to date, compiled largely from archival sources, and examines two of her novels, the 1865 Dora Darling: Daughter of the Regiment, one of the only Civil War-era adventure novels featuring a young girl who engages directly in the war, and the 1889 Standish of Standish, a carefully researched novel of the first few years of the Pilgrim’s Plymouth settlement, based on primary sources, popular culture, and family lore. INDEX WORDS: Jane Goodwin Austin, American literature, women writers, historical fiction, children’s literature, nineteenth century, Pilgrims “SO LONG AS THE WORK IS DONE”: RECOVERING JANE GOODWIN AUSTIN by KARI HOLLOWAY MILLER A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the College of Arts and Sciences Georgia State University 2015 Copyright by Kari Holloway Miller 2015 “SO LONG AS THE WORK IS DONE”: RECOVERING JANE GOODWIN AUSTIN by KARI HOLLOWAY MILLER Committee Chair: Janet Gabler-Hover Committee: Audrey Goodman Elizabeth Burmester Electronic Version Approved: Office of Graduate Studies College of Arts and Sciences Georgia State University May 2015 iv DEDICATION For my grandmother, Sue Branham. You aren’t here to witness this dedication, but somehow I think you know anyway. And for my first mentor, Jerry Barnette. There are no lines on these pages, but I’ve written against them in spirit. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This project would not have been possible without the many people who have supported me, both professionally and personally. Janet Gabler-Hover was the first scholar to recognize the full scope of my project, and I am eternally grateful not only for her wisdom and experience, but also her sensible advice and guidance. She gave freely of her time and energy and saw me through from start to finish. Many thanks as well to my other committee members, Audrey Goodman and Elizabeth Burmester, who read my drafts quickly and provided insightful commentary that improved my arguments and writing even more. Thanks also to scholars David Berry, William Paquette, Geoff Grimes, and Paul Benson of the Community College Humanities Association, and to the National Endowment for the Humanities for organizing the two workshops in Concord and Plymouth, Massachusetts. Without them, I would not have discovered Austin in the first place. Thanks as well to Andrea Scott Morgan, Amy Coleman, and Stuart Noel, my administrators at Georgia Perimeter College, for helping me arrange schedules and acquire funding. My colleagues at GPC, too numerous to list here, have given me support, advice, and encouragement, and they are highly deserving of every accolade I can heap upon them. When my scholarly interest waned, my family supported me and kept me going. My parents, Gene and Myra Holloway, and my sister Kristie have been my cheerleaders from the beginning. Little did we know that our 1986 vacation to New England would be the beginning of this project! I also owe thanks to my children, Ally and Jesse, for giving me perspective and balance. Their pride in my endeavors has kept me going in some of my darkest moments. vi Finally, my heartfelt thanks go to my husband, Christopher. It would be impossible to list all the ways that he sustained me through this endeavor, and I am eternally grateful for his support. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ......................................................................................................... v 1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................. 1 1.1 Key to Archival Sources* ................................................................................. 5 2 CHAPTER ONE: JANE GOODWIN AUSTIN: A LITERARY LIFE ............................ 6 2.1 Austin’s Early Life ............................................................................................ 7 2.2 Austin and New England History .................................................................. 10 2.3 Literary and Social Connections ................................................................... 16 2.4 Lifestyle and Impact on her Writing ............................................................. 27 2.5 Austin and the Literary Marketplace ........................................................... 32 2.6 Themes of Religion Tolerance and Diversity................................................ 37 2.7 Celebration of Women .................................................................................... 41 2.8 Austin’s Interest in History ............................................................................ 42 2.9 Austin’s Later Life and Death ....................................................................... 44 3 CHAPTER TWO: “A STRANGE LIFE” FOR AN "UNDAUNTED GIRL”: DORA DARLING..................................................................................................................................... 47 3.1 Children’s Civil War Literature.................................................................... 53 3.2 Race in Dora Darling ...................................................................................... 59 3.3 Gender Roles in Dora Darling ........................................................................ 64 3.4 National Narrative .......................................................................................... 71 viii 4 CHAPTER THREE: STANDISH OF STANDISH .......................................................... 88 4.1 Working on and with the Myth ..................................................................... 91 4.2 Domesticity, Romance, and Communal Harmony .................................... 104 4.3 Concepts of Narrative History Versus Literary Romance ........................ 115 4.4 Nationalism and Native Americans ............................................................. 125 5 CHAPTER FOUR: AUSTIN’S INVENTION OF THE “FIRST” THANKSGIVING .... ............................................................................................................................................. 131 5.1 Early Celebrations of Thanksgiving............................................................ 134 5.2 Thanksgiving Imagined in American Literature ....................................... 144 5.3 Factual Basis and Nineteenth Century Ideals ............................................ 148 5.4 Native Americans as Thanksgiving Guests................................................. 153 5.5 Developments after Standish of Standish .................................................... 159 6 CONCLUSION .................................................................................................................. 174 7 BIBLIOGRAPHY .............................................................................................................. 180 8 ARCHIVAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL SOURCES ......................................................... 192 9 AUSTIN’S NOVELS ......................................................................................................... 195 1 1 INTRODUCTION The American author Jane Goodwin Austin was born on February 25, 1831, in Worcester, Massachusetts, and died at the age of 63 on March 30, 1894, in Boston. During the span of her literary career from 1859 until her death, she published 23 novels, in addition to another novel published posthumously in 1901, as well as innumerable short stories in periodicals such as The Atlantic Monthly, The Galaxy, Lippincott’s, and Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Monthly. Although none of her novels are found on best-seller lists, many went into multiple printings and several stayed in publication for decades after her death. She was friends with many notable