A Paper Sula1 Tted to the Graduate Counc1l Ot Florida Stete Univers1ty in Partial Tul.Tillment Ot the Requirements for the Degree Ot Master of Bcience
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J'IlJRIoA STAm 1JIIIVERSI1'r ~JORIE IONNAIi RAWLINGS, REGIONAL WRITIlR, AN ANNOTA1Eo BIBLIOGRAPHY By TIIOMAS T. ROGERO A Paper SUla1 tted to the Graduate Counc1l ot Florida stete Univers1ty in partial tul.tillment ot the requirements for the degree ot Master of Bcience. Approved, ~P=ro~ti~s~s~o~r~DTlre~c~tnlri~~g~P~aper· ~r~------- kliiOr Protessor ~/1~ August, 1954 TABLE OJ' COIITE/ITS IN1'RODUCTIOII • • • • • .. • .. .. .. • .. 4 .. .. .. .. .. .. ."T Chapter I. LIFE AND WORKS .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. " n. AN AllllOTAmD LIST OF WCRFJ) BY MARJORIE lCUNAlI RA'.'LIliGS • • • • • • • • • • 28 BIBLIOGRAPHY .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 39 11 SUddeDlJr in tbe th1l't1es, the Proletarian up- surge in literature feU baek before a new realism- the regional movement, not a conscious litera17 growth, but a spontaneous emergence all over tbe United stetel! ot tbet interest in home regions to wIl1ch tbe way was pointed not long befpre by Sherwood Anderson, Sinclair LewiS, Edgar Lee Masters, and others • • • • Wlut.t teachers and readers bave dis covered in tbe past tew years is th1s saple fact- regional literature, .spec1ally regionel fiction, interprets the economic and social lite of Alleric&' s different rei1on~ tar IIDre .olortully, _ ti""]);Y, and memorably tNm ~ text could po.. ibl, do lt • • • • The regional book 1natruot. · and entertains • • • but it baa th. added val,,! of fllJllUiarising tbe rea.1er with oontemporary Amerlca. The te1'lll "regional literature" IIIIIT be defined as that literature which interprets the aconoll1c mooda and tile soc1el thoughts ot a part1cular count17, region or area. Sometimes, 1 t ..." consist ot a ...arr _U .egJI8Dt ot a country or a particular region of that count17, and yet, it I1B)' be a minute area witll1n that reglon. In llorlda, tbere i8 a region caUed "the Pine)'WOoda" WIlich ...brac .. tile area caUed the "BIg Scrub." Wl tll1n thi. region there baa .dated for " DIlIIIber of year. a people called the "llorida Creckars," WIlo posses. mytlllI and w1ld teles of thelr own prWtlY8 lite in the baekVooda. ntis region went virtuali;y untouohed in tbe field ot 11terature until lAugust Derleth, "Amerlca in Today's Fiction," Publishers' Weekly, CXXXIX (May 3, 1941), 1820. 1 a 1928 when Mar ,orie Unnan RawlingS c..... to norlda .. a stranger and vu able to .ee clearly the lIID'f8II8llts of a new Uterary landscape. Arter settUng at Cross Creek, she bepn to write about the Cracker 111 all his glory by moulding hill 1I1to cheracters. In her booke dealing chlefly with the norida Cracker., she created a reglonal flction by the s~pathetlc portrayal of the humor and the tragedy of the backwoodslan • .uthough at tirst her work attracted Uttle attention, bar later nOTels South )(oon Under, Ih! l)arling and the SoloU1'!!lr, and her short .tories Gal young gn and hoc!!'s kd-iU all played a leading role 111 estabUshing a road to literary Bucoess. The purpose of this peper i. to present the lit. anI! ltO.'k:.\ of Narlorie IClnnen Rawlings by wrlt1l1g her blogmpllf with a .".... ry ot her contributlons to the Ueld of regiom.l literature. The writer of this paper, a ""ti.... norid1an, developed an 1I1terest 111 Mr.. Raw11l1gs and her works because ot Mrs. Ravllogs' s IJnporlance as a Florida noveUst and the local settings ot her novels and short stories. He has attempted to present an o.... rall p1cture of tba lit. of Mar ,or!e 1C1nnan Rawlings 111 relation to her literary works dealing basically v1th her novels and short stories. Using the following tools, Readers' C!u1de to PerlOdical Llterature,l! liction Catalog,3 Book l\ey1ew • 12M (1feV'~~f:"'H?i~wtt.~~i~~~Mlr.rature , 1929- aUct10p CatalOg, 19Q (llew York: H. W. WilsOn, 1942). 3 Dige.t." and Iud8:&: to Short Stori•• ,5 the writer ot thl. papal' hu compiled a liating of works by MarJori. XloMn Ra.ling. and a bibliogrepAy ot works about her includIng the sources used. The first U.ting, annotated end arrenpd in chronological order, i. divided into three .ectioll4l the tlrat deels with :t2le author'. books; the .econd treats the &hort .torle. wrl tten b;y her; and the third deal. with _gesine artlcle. b;y her. The blbUograpAy 1. an alphabetical Usting ot all a'll11lable materiel about the author includ.ing the source. used in compiling this blbliograph;y. 1930-1952 ()few Xol'lt: H. W. Wilson, • Srna T. Flrldrul. (2d ed.; lIev Xorlu Ii. If. wU.on, LIn: AIID WOIWl AmOIl& the rising generation ot American noVllllsts, none 91"" more VlIluable pledges to tile tuture than Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings.l Over the period ot nine rear., tollowiIl& the appearance ot South, )Ioon 'lJAder (1933). she wrote tlTe books . Intermingled With these tive books, she uso wrote IIIBJl,Y short stories. Tbese--each in Its WIlT allllost ra,, le.8--attest the posse.sion ot superior girts and a pnuine vocation. 2 She ..a one ot the most talented ot tile local colorists dealing e.pec1aJ.ly with the poor-whit.. ot Florida, realizing the tictional possIbIlities ot his lit. or the tll8clnatlon ot his haunts. Because ot the regional locality ot her short .tories and novals, set in the ourrourul1ns area ot the big scrub ot Florida, ahe has been termed as • regional writer or the -sister ot regionalls.. • Her work was particularly notable tor tile tidellty with 1Ihlch She pIctured the feelings of people who live cloo. to lLloyd Morris, "New ClaSSicist,' North Americap Reyl,w, CCXLVI (1938). 179. ~ . 5 nature in the scrub-pine and hammock country of Plorida.3 She took the descendants of pioneer white .ettlers, knoWn as "Crackers", and moulded their lives and dialects into manuscripts producing a great variety of Characters which are typical of this region. Though she characterised IIIB.Il7 aspects of it. life adDdrebl.y in her novels Sout); Moon Updtr. G~lden Apples, and The Iearl1n&. she wes not native to Flor1da. Marjorie Kinnan Rawling. we. born on August 6, 1696 in Washington, D. C., the daughter of Arthur l"rank Kinnan, a patent attorney in the Federal service, and Ida May (Traphagen) Kinnan. ~ "good part of her childhood wes spent on her father'. farm in Raryland where ahe and her tether went for long rambles through the hills of .-arby Virg1n1a and Maryland. rlle bond 1Ihich exiated between Marjorie and her father va. an extremely olo.e one and his dell th, wich occurred wen she was seventeen, grieved her deeply. Shortly before his death, she graduated from the Western High School in washington.5 A fem1ly council then decided that she and her younger brother should attend the University of Wisconsin becaWle of the liberal 1ntluence ~arry R. warfel, ~erlCAI1 N~l1sts of Tad"! (_ York: Americen Book Co., ~1), p. 1. ~rjor1e K1nnan Rawlings," yurrent l\iosraW, III (JUly, 19.42), 65. , ~. 5 ot the La Follettes.6 Dramatics and vrit1n6 tor the colle.. literary mall"&ine and yearbook vere her extra currlcular actlvitles Vh1le at WiSconsin. She _jored in EngUsh, stud)'1n6 especial ~ Wlder W1ll1aa Eller;y LeO~, the poet, and recelVed her B. A. degree in 1918.7 lTpox. her sraduation t1'OA the lTn! varsity ot Wlsconsin, she dec1ded to make vr1t1ng a tuJ.l tiM career. rhi. ldee vas by no mean. new to her as she wrote her first ator;y at the age ot el"van tor the children'. pap ot the Washington (D. C.) post8 and et tourteen, vas awarded a seventy-tlve dollar priM tor a short stor;y entered in a contest sponsored by McCall's Maga&1De.9 In 1918 she became editor ot the l!/!lr Wo11C Bulletin, a publication edited by the Ratlonal Headquarters ot the Young Woman's Clvlc Associatlon.lO This editorship lasted but one year when she reslgned to become the asaistant servlce edltor ot the Home Stotor l1a.pzina. On Ma7 1. 1919, she vas II&rrled to Cherles Bav] lngs. He. 'a blg blond navspape"""'" wo grew up on lake Huron ~. and Hovard IlaJ'cratt (eds.). (Rev York, H. W. Wilson Co., 8~rjorle Xlnnan.Rawltngs." ~~!ltional Clclopaedla ot Ameriean Biographz, ' . G (1940). ""'. 9~jorie Kinnan RawlingS,' eumnt BloQ'llplll, III (lull', 19~). 65. lO~rjorie KInnan RawlingS," ~e Jatlonal CyClO paedia ot mrican BlograpW.· ' . G 946). i3e. 7 and wrote on yachting,· VIlS a journalist ot Rochaater, II.., York. U 8ha then c~ed her attention rrom llalll'a.lnIis to newspaper writiDt! and .peJ:t the next ten yeara rOYiDt! about as a newspaperw=. Her tirst expar1enc8 1n the nawapapar tield vas w1th the LouisYiUe-,TQurnal (1920-21) as a teature writer. She wes alao a teature writer tor the Roohester (If. Y.) Journal (1922-23) and a syndicate wr1ter tor !]n1ted Features Syndicate (1925-27). Her newspaper '<1'1t1n& consiSted at publicity art1cles, advertis1nt!. special articles, and sometimes hUlll8n 1nterest stories. Ot her wnrapaper work 1n general and her experience as a Hearst "sob aiater" 1n particular, she told Robert van Gelder. It vas & rougn school, but I wouldn't have miSsed 1t • • • • You learn a lot when lOU IIlWIt put down what paople said and how thel acted in cris.fa1n their Uves, and 1t te&Ch8S lOU ob,leotiYitl. As a synd1cate wr1ter, she wrote a verse column entitled 'Songs ot a Housev1te.· which appeared in some fiftl Od!! nevapapers throughout the Un!ted states. In ad41 tiOA to her nevapaper work dur1nt! this time, ahe wrote adver t1sing copy tor the Stswart Dr1 Goods COIDpaDT in LouiavUle, JtentuD;y. (,Tuly, l~,;j3E:· Kinnan Rawlings,· current BlograW, In l2Stenlel ,T. Kunttz and How.rd Halcraft (eds.), nut1ethii'tury Authors (llew York: H.