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HAROLD FREDERIC AS A PURVEYOR OF AMERICAN MYTH: AN APPROACH TO HIS NOVELS Item Type text; Dissertation-Reproduction (electronic) Authors Witt, Stanley Pryor, 1938- Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 11/10/2021 06:56:39 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/290424 INFORMATION TO USERS This material was produced from a microfilm copy of the original document. While the most advanced technological means to photograph and reproduce this document have been used, the quality is heavily dependent upon the quality of the original submitted. 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University Microfilms International 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106 USA St. John's Road, Tyler's Green High Wycombe, Bucks, England HP10 8HR 77-11,446 WITT, Stanley Pryor, 1938- HAROLD FREDERIC AS A PURVEYOR OF AMERICAN MYTH: AN APPROACH TO HIS NOVELS. The University of Arizona, Ph.D., 1976 Literature, American Xerox University Microfilms, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106 HAROLD FREDERIC AS A PURVEYOR OF AMERICAN MYTH: AN APPROACH TO HIS NOVELS by Stanley Pryor Witt A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 19 7 6 THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA. GRADUATE COLLEGE I hereby recommend that this dissertation prepared under my direction by Stanley Pry or Witt entitled HAROLD FREDERIC A3 A PURVEYOR OP AMERICAN MYTH: AN APPROACH TO HIS NOVELS be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement for the degree of Dootor of Philosophy (/ GlA R ft&OHA-XVl /&/* Dissertation Director Date » As members of the Final Examination Committee, we certify that we have read this dissertation and agree that it may be presented for final defense. ' w/>- a ''•» /o/A # foe /Wvv IMshv-Au Final approval and acceptance of this dissertation is contingent on the candidate's adequate performance and defense thereof at the final oral examination. STATEMENT BY AUTHOR This dissertation has been submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for an advanced degree at The University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to bor rowers under rules of the Library. Brief quotations from this dissertation are allowable without special permission, provided that accurate acknowledgment of source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the head of the major department or the Dean of the Graduate College when in his judgment the proposed use of the material is in the interests of scholarship. In all other instances, however, permission must be obtained from the author. SIGNED: For China Sue iii PREFACE It has long been something of a tradition to discuss Harold Frederic within the context of the "new realism" of the post-Civil War era or to see in his early novels an emerging social conscience becoming attuned to the social and political problems of the Gilded Age. Equally popular has been the custom to describe the later Frederic as an expatriate who, having become disgusted with American materialism, fled to Europe and there immersed himself in Old World romances, never again to visit the American scene in either his fiction or in real life. While both approaches have been of value in the development of Frederic criticism, they have nevertheless tended to limit one's under standing of the man and to confine one's appreciation of his works to only one or two novels, The Damnation of Theron Ware and, perhaps, The Market-Place. It has been of late that critics have taken the lead of Paul Haines and of Messrs. O'Donnell and Franchere and have begun to see Frederic in a larger context and as a man with a great diversity of interests and abilities. No longer is he viewed as an embittered "country boy of genius" but is typically seen as a man with a large, generous personality and an enjoyable sense of humor. Nor do we any longer tend to see him as a writer who early in his career abandoned his natural ability to write realistic novels of his native land and adopted instead the highly artificial method of writing novels accord ing to the high-flown romanticism characteristic of the earlier part of iv V the century. On the contrary, critics are now discussing both the man and his works in terms of a consistent pattern of development. Indeed, had it not been for the numerous recent developments in Frederic criticism, particularly with respect to the work of Briggs, Blackall, Garner, and Woodward, any discussion of Frederic as a myth- maker would have seemed untenable. However, it is now possible to enlarge our understanding of Frederic by examining the mythical ele ments which provide the structural basis for many of his novels and which reflect a uniquely American brand of mythology and point of view. By viewing the man from this angle, we shall be able to perceive his close relationship to Hawthorne, Melville, James, and others who wrote in the mainstream of American literature, and we shall also come to a greater appreciation of both the continuity and universality of his works. I should like to extend a word of thanks to Professors Paul Rosenblatt, Arthur Kay, John Hollowell, and Cecil Robinson, of The University of Arizona. I am grateful to Professor Rosenblatt for his thoughtful direction during the opening stages of this work and for his patience during the time I was writing in absentia. My sincerest appreciation is extended to Professor Kay for helpful insights regard ing consistency of approach and point of view (particularly in the later chapters) and for his honest encouragement that I strive for excellence throughout. I wish to thank Professor Hollowell for his many valuable suggestions, not the least of which was that concerning my use of the term "myth." I owe a special debt of gratitude to Professor Cecil Robinson, who was instrumental in rescuing my doctoral program from the limbo of delay and postponement and who, both as a teacher of American literature and director of this study, has helped me more than I can possibly acknowledge here. Suffice it to say that to him I extend profoundest gratitude for his large, dynamic nature, his compassion, his enthusiasm, his intellectual leadership, and, not least of all, his generous sense of humor when the going became rough. To all of the above-mentioned individuals I am further indebted for the usual assistance regarding matters of mechanics and style, organi zation and documentation, and the like. I am also grateful to the late Mr. Robert Poland of The University of Arizona library staff and to Nancy Kirkpatrick of the library staff at Yavapai Community College for their generous assistance in securing materials. I owe a further debt of gratitude to Professors Oliver F. Sigworth, Marie P. Hamilton, and Patrick J. McCarthy who were instrumental in helping me obtain a grant which made possible my graduate studies in the first place. Finally, I should like to express appreciation to my wife whose support is beyond all measurement. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT viii 1. FREDERIC REVISITED: THE MYTH OF THE AMERICAN DREAM 1 2. IN THE VALLEY: THE MYTH OF NEW WORLD SUPERIORITY ...... 28 3. SETH'S BROTHER'S WIFE: EMERGENCE OF A DIALECTIC 44 4. THE LAWTON GIRL: THE MYTH OF TRANSCENDENTAL EXPECTANCY ... 68 5. THE RETURN OF THE O'MAHONY: A NEW YORK YANKEE IN IRELAND . 95 6. THERON WARE: THE DARK NIGHT OF THE SOUL Ill 7. MARCH HARES: THE THRESHOLD OF REBIRTH 144 8. GLORIA MUNDI: THE RETURN OF THE DUKE 161 9. THE MARKET-PLACE: THE MYTH OF THE POWER HERO 181 SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY 205 vii ABSTRACT Although Harold Frederic (1856-1898) began his career as an author by writing in the vein of American literary realism, his development as reflected both in his artistic as well as in his personal life shows him moving steadily away from a factual view of reality and in the direction of a mythical interpretation.

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