The Development of the Short Story in the South A DISSERTATION Submitted to the Faculty of the University of Virginia in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy BY ROBERT CECIL BEALE Fredericksburg, Va. I ‘ 41.“ " ‘ ; .m‘iy‘ ‘ THE MICHIE COMPANY. PRINTERS ‘1“ L -. .L 1 Charlottesville. Virginia \‘ ; \_ 1. 1911 ‘1, * j\ “ 3x / "-2 ' UYa U. Va. Doctoral Dissertation 4&8 . win-pr .' « irwfiflfi PREFACE In regard to any piece of literary composition it is usually true that no one is more clearly conscious of defects and limi— tations than the author. The demands of his theme are so fre— quently and carefully reviewed by him and the investigations incident to his work so often yield results far below his expec- tations that there is little danger of his being too lenient a critic of his own achievement. In the present work much remains unaccomplished that the writer desired to perform. Accurate conclusions in many matters have not always been obtained; points of interest have eluded investigation; and facts have not always been at hand to support inferences that appeared rea— sonable. The result, imperfect as it is, is put forth with the hope that any merits that it may possess will enable it to be of some small service and that its defects will lead others to correc- tion and improvement. ' In the preparation of this work help and encouragement have been received from many sources. 'The sympathetic interest, the general guidance, and the critical assistance of Dr. Charles W. Kent are here gratefully acknowledged. Valuable criticisms and suggestions have also been furnished by Dr. Alphonso Smith, Dr. William Harrison Faulkner, and Dr. George A. Wauchope of the University of South Carolina, who was, during the latter part of the session of 1909-’10, temporarily filling the chair of English Literature in the absence of Dr. Kent. The works‘of others along similar or related lines have greatly assisted in the preparation of this monograph. Among these I desire to acknowledge great indebtedness to the disserta- tion of Mr. James Gibson Johnson of Charlottesville, Va. on “Southern Fiction Prior to 1860” and to an unpublished catalogue of Southern fiction from 1860 to 1908 prepared by him. The list of authors contained in this catalogue was exceedingly valuable as a general guide in my examination of magazines. Dissertations containing special points of information useful to me were also kindly-furnished by Dr. Gustav Gruener of Yale University, Dr. Palmer Cobb of'the University of North Car- olina, Dr. Scott H. Goodnight of the University of Winconsin, IV PREFACE and by Dr. William Cairns of the University of Wisconsin. Other works that have been consulted are mentioned in the bibliography. Authors to whom letters of inquiry have been addressed have kindly furnished much helpful information. For such letters acknowledgment is due to Dr. William P. Trent of Columbia University, Mr. Hamilton W. Mabie of New York, Mr. George W. Cable of Northhampton, Mass, Mrs. Ruth McEnery Stuart of New York, Mr. Harry Stillwell Edwards of Macon, Georgia, Mr. John M. Elliott of Portland, Oregon, Mrs. Attwood R. Martin of Anchorage, Ky., Miss Louise Preston Looney of Memphis, Tenn, Mrs. LaSalIe Corbell Pickett of Baltimore, Md, Mr. Jas. L. Easby-Smith of Washington, D. C., Mr. William Perry Brown of Glenville, W. Va., Miss Kate Slaughter McKinney of Montgomery, Ala., Mr. L. C. Whitlock of Balti- more, Md., Mrs. Clark Waring of Columbia, S. C., Miss Eve- lyn Snead Barnett of Louisville, Ky., and Miss Annie Booth McKinney of Knoxville, Tenn. In the libraries from which the material for this dissertation has been gathered uniform courtesy has been shown by the officials and many special favors granted. The author’s thanks are therefore due to the officials of the library of the University of Virginia, the Virginia State Library and the Confederate Li- brary of Richmond, Va., the Library of Congress in Washington, and the library of Fredericksburg, Va. ROBERT C. BEALE. Miller School, Va., May IO, I9II. Contents CHAPTER PAGE PREFACE III INTRODUCTION . 1 I. THE SHORT STORY IN THE SOUTH BEFORE 1833 . 7 II. POE AND THE SHORT STORY . 12 III. THE TALES OF THE SOUTHERN M AGAZINES AND NEWSPAPERS FROM 1834 TO 1860 . 25 IV. THE PERIOD OP,TRANSITION—1860-187O . 47 V. THE SOUTHERN RENAISSANCE . 50 VI. STORIES OF "CRACKER” LIFE . 53 VII. STORIES OF CREOLE LIFE . 58 VIII. STORIES OF NEGRO DIALECT AND CHARACTER . 64 IX. THE MOUNTAINEER STORY . 76 X. THE GENERAL FIELD. 82 SHORT STORY WRITERS OF THE SOUTH . 91 PERIODICALS CONTAINING SHORT STORIES BY SOUTHERN WRITERS . 99 CI-IRONOLOGICAL LIsr or SOUTHERN SI-IORI‘ STORIES WRIT- TEN IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY . 101 SUPPLEMENTARY LIST OF COLLECTIONS or SHORT STORIES OF WHICH THE DATES OF PUBLICATION COULD NOT BE ASCERTAINED . 135 BIBLIOGRAPHY . 136 INTRODUCTION It is the purpose Of'this monograph to trace the development of the short story in the literature of the Southern States from 1833 to the end of the nineteenth century. Two reasons may be noted for the selection Of the former date. The year 1833 marks the rise Of the modern short story in the work of Poe, and also furnishes an approximate date for the beginning Of popular periodical literature in the South.1 The relation be- tween the growth of the short story and the modern magazine makes it important to study the history of the one in its chono- logical connection with the other. Professor Canby is without doubt correct in asserting that the short story and the modern magazine may each in turn be regarded as the cause and effect of the other, a statement amply verified in the history of every modern literature in which the short story has been extensively cultivated. The condition of Southern fiction in the form of the short story antecedent to Poe will be briefly reviewed as far as will be essential to the purpose of the present work. The close of the nineteenth century has been selected as the end of the period to be studied for obvious reasons. By the end of the century the sectional influences that have given Southern literature its spe— cial characteristics. which clearly differentiate it from that of other sections of the country, had exerted their full force, and had begun to show signs of abatement. By the end of this pe- riod, the special forms of the short story typical of the South had attained their full development. Thenceforward the litera- ture Of the South was to display less of local peculiarity, and to share more in the general national character. The century falls naturally into two main periods, separated by the sharply dividing line of the Civil War. The effect of this conflict on the material and the spirit Of the Southern short 1. The Cosmopolitan, Charleston, S. C.,.1833. The Southern Lit- erary Messenger, Richmond, Va., 1834. The Southern Literary Jour- nal, Charleston, S. C., 1835. 2 THE SOUTHERN SHORT STORY story will be the leading fact to be taken into account in the study of the second period. The limits of the period to be studied being thus defined, it becomes necessary to add two words of explanation with refer- ence tO terms employed in the theme. In the first place, it is important to make clear the exact sense in which the term short story is to be used in these pages. The recent discussion of this type of fiction has given rise to a considerable body of litera- ture in the form of magazine articles and separate volumes de- voted exclusively to it.2 These discussions have revealed some divergency of opinion as to the precise character and limits Of the short story. It is therefore important to note the present application of the term. The term short story has two meanings. In a loose, general sense, it is used to cover any form of brief narrative. Used by the literary critic of today with reference to the form of the short story that has been typical Of the nineteenth and twenti- eth centuries, it designates a highly compact and unified brief narrative so planned and proportioned as to leave upon the mind of the reader a Single definite impression. The slight vagueness in the application of the term is to be explained by the history of the development of the short Story as a literary form. Brief narratives have always existed since human expression began. Until the nineteenth century, however, literary usage recognized no essential distinction between the- longer fiction classified roughly as novel and romance and the short tale except that of length. Strictly speaking, as fiction was. then composed, there was no other distinction. During the third decade of the nineteenth century, however, a new ideal Of the short story began to embody itself in the work of Poe and 2. Albright, Evelyn May; “The Short Story,” Macmillan, 1907. Barrett, Chas. Raymond; “Short Story Writing,” Baker, 1900. Canby, Henry Seidel; “The Short Story in English,” Henry Holt, 1909. Hart, W. M.;.“Hawthorne and the Short Story,” Berkeley, Cal., 1900. Matthews, Brander; “The Philosophy of the Short Story,” Longmans, 1901. Quick, Leslie W.; “How to Write a Short Story,” Editor, 1904. Smith, Lewis Worthington; “The Writing of the Short Story,” Esenwein, J. Berg; “Writing the Short Story,” Hinds, Noble & Eldredge, 1908. INTRODUCTION 3 Hawthorne in America, Mérimée, Balzac and Gautier in France. In a word, the artistic possibilities of the story that was short began to be fully realized. Substituting for the looseness of the Older tale a compactness and brevity of structure, confining the attention closely to a Single incident, and proportioning the nar- rative so as to give this incident a climactic effect conveying a definite impression, the writers just named may be said to have begun a new type of the short story.