“The Gilded Six-Bits” is a 1933 short story by Zora Neale Hurston, and the one which possibly launched her as a fiction writer. It wasn’t her first story by any means, but the one that caught the attention of the publisher, Bertram Lippincott.
Lippincott read “The Gilded Six-Bits” in an issue of Story magazine, and was so impressed that he wrote Zora to see whether she might be working on a full-length novel. She wasn’t, but told him she was. She got her serious about starting her first novel, Jonah’s Gourd Vine, and it was ready in three months.
Make sure to read the analysis of “The Gilded Six Bits.” In Zora Neale Hurston: A Literary Biography, Robert E. Hemenway encapsulates the story : Read More→
A “Pollyanna,” according to Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary, is “a person characterized by irrepressible optimism and a tendency to find good in everything.” Following is a selection of quotes from Pollyanna — the 1913 novel by Eleanor H. Porter that gave us this enduring term.
You’ll also find some contemporary quotes on what it means to be — or not to be — “a Pollyanna.”
Pollyanna was first published on the brink of World War I (which began in 1914; the U.S. entered in 1917), which segued into the misnamed global pandemic Spanish Flu. Both killed millions worldwide.
It hardly seemed the time for a book whose newly orphaned main character was as sunny and optimistic as they come. But somehow, the book struck a nerve and was an immediate hit with children as well as adults. Or maybe that’s precisely when it was needed, as its popularity lasted for years.
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Grace King’s life (1852 – 1932) spanned two wars, various epidemics, disruptive politics, and fluctuating economics. Her literary career began in 1885 when two northern editors came to New Orleans to write up the south and find local writers at the World’s Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition.
Richard Watson Gilder of Century Magazine challenged King to write her first short story, and Charles Dudley Warner placed it and then mentored her into the publishing world.
Over almost five decades, King wrote short stories and novellas, biographies and histories, genealogy, and a memoir. Her path reflected the shifting changes in taste. As with other women writers whose works disappeared from the literary canon, she is again receiving attention for her sensitivity and knowledge of a particular time and place. Read More→
Elizabeth Bowen (June 7, 1899 – February 22, 1973) was an Irish-British novelist and short story writer best known for fictional works that focused on life in wartime London and relationships among the upper-middle class.
Some have referred to her as the “grande dame” of the modern novel, her work characterized by a conscious, concise style.
Bowen’s work reflects her great interest in “life with the lid on and what happens when the lid comes off.” It examines the innocence of orderly life and irrepressible forces that transforms one’s experience. In her stories and novels, she examines the betrayal and secrets beneath the veneer of respectability.
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The 1913 novel Pollyanna by Eleanor H. Porter (1868 – 1920) is perhaps less familiar now than the lasting expression that grew from its sentimental story.
Most everyone knows what defines a “Pollyanna” — someone who looks at the bright side of things no matter how dire, or who paints an overly optimistic picture of any situation.
Pollyanna, subtitled “The Glad Book,” was incredibly successful from the start, and inspired many adaptations in other media. Though intended as a children’s novel, it appealed to all ages. Read More→
Marianne Moore (November 15, 1887 – February 5, 1972) was a poet associated with the American Modernist movement. Her poetry was notable for its wit, irony, and use of syllabic verse. She was also a respected translator.
At right, a 1957 photo of Marianne Moore by the noted photographer Imogen Cunningham.
Politically, Marianne was involved in the women’s suffrage movement in the United States, often supporting it anonymously through her writing. She was celebrated throughout much of her life, and she received numerous honorary degrees and awards for her works, including the Pulitzer Prize and the National Medal for Literature. Read More→
“The Prisoner” is perhaps one of the best known of the achingly beautiful, haunting poems by Emily Brontë, the English author best known for her only novel, Wuthering Heights.
Of the three literary Brontë sisters — Charlotte, Anne, and Emily,—it was always, from the start was, the latter who was regarded as the most brilliant poet, perhaps even the greatest genius among them.
“The Prisoner” was one of the poems included in the volume of poetry the sisters, led by Charlotte, printed at their own expense as a way to break into the world of publishing. Poems of Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell. Published in 1846, it sold a pathetic two copies. Read More→
For a small number of American female journalist-reformers of the 1800s, starting their own newspapers became a matter of necessity. Refused the opportunity to report on matters of importance by male-dominated mainstream newspapers, they took matters into their own hands.
Launching their own newspapers became platforms for raising awareness of the justice issues they fought for.
Anne Newport Royall, Mary Ann Shadd Cary, and Jovita Idár are no longer familiar names; Ida B. Wells (pictured above right) might be better known to those interested in Black history. But all deserve to be better known and deserve a place of honor as publisher-reformers in an era when women’s voices were more often silenced than heard. Read More→
