Margaret [i.e. Margret] Howth

by Rebecca Harding Davis

"A rewarding, fascinatingly mature book of substance and power."--Tillie Olsen

Genres: Classics, Literature

266 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1862

About the author

Rebecca Blaine Harding Davis (born Rebecca Blaine Harding) was an American author and journalist. She is deemed a pioneer of literary realism in American literature. She graduated valedictorian from Washington Female Seminary in Pennsylvania. Her most important literary work is the novella Life in the Iron Mills, published in the April 1861 edition of the Atlantic Monthly which quickly made her an established female writer. Throughout her lifetime, Davis sought to effect social change for blacks, women, Native Americans, immigrants, and the working class, by intentionally writing about the plight of these marginalized groups in the 19th century.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Courtney Jarboe · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great early 19th Century novella by R. H. Davis. She's a great author and you'll notice a bit of "strangeness" about two-thirds through the novella. She has a "dark" mind about the world which is always nice :)

[Beth & Jared]

I made students read this. It may be the worst novel ever written. The charming students convinced me that it was so bad as to be purposeful . . . so bad as to wrap around and become interesting. --B

[Nanette · Rating 5 out of 5]

Don’t forget where you are as you read Harding’s first novel—on the cusp of the Civil War, Lincoln just elected, American industrialization in its infancy, mass immigration coupled with xenophobia, Women’s rights cloaked in race & social reform bc that was socially acceptable (before black men gained the vote & women didn’t), and the popular utopian societies cropping up around the country with socialism at their heart (ie Fourierism) as people questioned the social order of things. For example one of Harding’s most interesting characters, philanthropist Dr. Knowles, struggles with the inequities he sees in America and dreams of building a utopia. Harding writes, “Knowles looked about him as into a seething cauldron, in which the people I tell you of were atoms, where the blood of uncounted races was fused, but not mingled – – where creeds, philosophies, centuries-old, grappled hand to hand in their death-struggle, – – where innumerable aims and beliefs and powers of intellect, smothered rights and triumphant wrongs, warred together, struggling for victory” [90].

With that stage, NOW read the book. Note Harding’s skillful application of literary naturalism— NOT romanticism (she invented naturalism, not the men traditionally associated with American Naturalism years later. She was first! Feel the social Darwinism at play, the atavism, the atheism grappling with the prevailing christianity of the day & her rejection of Emersonian individualism). Because of editorial influence, her story has hallmarks of sentimentalism, but without that kind of publishing pressure, who knows how she would have ended it?

This is not a romantic or sentimental novel to be dismissed as a cliche but rather a reform novel depicting humanity’s complicated nature and hunger for both physical and spiritual food. Harding is grappling with racism, sexism, classism and the internal struggles against social proscriptions. She is a talented writer who paints the scene such that all your senses experience her story. She’s aware that her’s is a mere story, even writing as such in near direct address. But her goal is for her story to move you to action—for YOU to make a better world—instead of buying into the privileged self-serving ideas about self-development popular in her day (& today) espoused by German philosopher Fichte. Harding’s characters represent both sides of the social/political debate (by white men, like she enacts in Life in the Iron Mills) to help the reader hear “both sides” of “the story.” The inclusion of C-19 current affairs is fascinatingly woven into the story, making it a good augmentation and test for students of history. Harding challenges the idea of American exceptionalism through realism. This book remains compelling today as a study of rhetorical strategy, a critique of national identity, and a feat of literary success. Btw, Harding’s is no idle pen, in fact her 4-decade career of bestselling writing supported herself and her children, amassing: 8 novels, two collections of short stories, a memoir, and more than a dozen serialized novels and scores of short stories in the pages of magazines (specifically the Atlantic and potboilers for Petersons), as well as being contributing editor to the New York Tribune. She also wrote articles for the independent Harpers Bazaar the Outlook in the North American review and composed juveniles for the youth companion in Saint Nicholas. Sadly, after her death, she was best known as “the mother of Richard Harding Davis, the novelist and dramatist.” Harding is the tree from which that apple fell—enjoy this first-fruit (& read Life in the Iron Mills, too—or FIRST—if you want to read her magnum opus [novella]) that Harding interestingly called “broken bits of apple rind” (bc she only alludes to major problems instead of facing them head-on due to social sensitivities). I also recommend this edition published by the Feminist Press, (out of print now so you’ll have to pick it up used), with the afterward by Yellin (frim which I draw) who does a lot of good critical work to help you appreciate Harding’s novel.

[Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

her sentences. very very good. her plot. hard for me. all in all it was a nice time