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.