Sir Rohan's Ghost. a Romance

by Harriet Prescott Spofford

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

366 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1859

About the author

Harriet Elizabeth Prescott Spofford (April 3, 1835 – August 14, 1921) was a notable American writer remembered for her novels, poems and detective stories.

Born in Calais, Maine, in 1835 Spofford moved with her parents to Newburyport, Massachusetts, which was ever after her home, though she spent many of her winters in Boston and Washington, D.C. She attended the Putnam Free School in Newburyport, and Pinkerton Academy in Derry, New Hampshire from 1853 to 1855. At Newburyport her prize essay on Hamlet drew the attention of Thomas Wentworth Higginson, who soon became her friend, and gave her counsel and encouragement.

Spofford began writing after her parents became sick, sometimes working fifteen hours a day. She contributed story papers for small pay to Boston. In 1859, she sent a story about Parisian life entitled "In a Cellar" to Atlantic Monthly. The magazine's editor, James Russell Lowell, at first believed the story to be a translation and withheld it from publication. Reassured that it was original, he published it and it established her reputation. She became a welcome contributor to the chief periodicals of the United States, both of prose and poetry.

Spofford's fiction had very little in common with what was regarded as representative of the New England mind. Her gothic romances were set apart by luxuriant descriptions, and an unconventional handling of female stereotypes of the day. Her writing was ideal, intense in feeling. In her descriptions and fancies, she reveled in sensuous delights and every variety of splendor.[citation needed]

In 1865, she married Richard S. Spofford, a Boston lawyer. They lived on Deer Island overlooking the Merrimack River at Amesbury, where she died on August 14, 1921.

When Higginson asked Emily Dickinson whether she had read Spofford's work "Circumstance", Dickinson replied, "I read Miss Prescott's 'Circumstance,' but it followed me in the dark, so I avoided her."

Reviews

[Mj · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love the Gothic. I love the spooky. Hell, I even love the romance when done right. Spofford, unfortunately, did not do it right. There are such amazing snippets here, especially as this is probably one of the oldest ghost stories put to print. You have the classic tropes before they became hokey, but they drown in the tired formula of an 1800s romance. It's a shame, really, that this story has kind of settled into obscurity. That being said, I'm not entirely surprised.

[Yello 🧸 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Might be more 3.5 - feel like I would’ve enjoyed it more if not for the writing style

[Matthew · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a touchy book for me to review. On the one hand, I really enjoyed diving into the history of American Gothic to one of its earliest incarnations (Imagine all of those hokey scenes from Scooby Doo, except them /not/ being hokey). On the other hand, I didn't find anything that really drove me to continue reading Sir Rohan's Ghost.

And that is its biggest fault: I honestly did not finish this book. I am pretty serious about reading my books from beginning to end, but Spofford just did not create any characters worth caring about. I liken this to Bram Stoker's Mystery of the Sea. There are a lot of good things that the book does, but too many bad things to keep me interested.

Also, when she adds "A Romance" to the title, she definitely means it (in all its 1800s stereotypically gag inducing manner). The ghost-to-romance ratio is about 1-32, if I'm being generous. It has the tropes of Gothic Horror, but I wonder if Spofford steered away from the genre because of the negative stereotypes of woman authors during the time? But that's a topic for another paper.

Merged review:

This is a touchy book for me to review. On the one hand, I really enjoyed diving into the history of American Gothic to one of its earliest incarnations (Imagine all of those hokey scenes from Scooby Doo, except them /not/ being hokey). On the other hand, I didn't find anything that really drove me to continue reading Sir Rohan's Ghost.



And that is its biggest fault: I honestly did not finish this book. I am pretty serious about reading my books from beginning to end, but Spofford just did not create any characters worth caring about. I liken this to Bram Stoker's Mystery of the Sea. There are a lot of good things that the book does, but too many bad things to keep me interested.



Also, when she adds "A Romance" to the title, she definitely means it (in all its 1800s stereotypically gag inducing manner). The ghost-to-romance ratio is about 1-32, if I'm being generous. It has the tropes of Gothic Horror, but I wonder if Spofford steered away from the genre because of the negative stereotypes of woman authors during the time? But that's a topic for another paper.