Franklin Library: ARKANSAS STORIES: OCTAVE THANET: ALICE FRENCH: CLOVER BEND

Description: Rose Publishing Company hardcover edition of Michael and Carol Dougan's "By the Cypress Swamp: The Arkansas Stories of Octave Thanet," published in 1980. Bound in green boards, the book has its original dust jacket ---in near FINE condition---Out of Print. Dr. Michael Dougan is a retired Professor of History at Arkansas State University, Jonesboro. His deceased wife was a cellist and performed with the Arkansas symphony. Octave Thanet, who lived from 1860-1934, was Arkansas' most widely read writer of the 19th century. A prolific short story writer, she attained national acclaim and was one of the top five paid authors in 1900. President Theodore Roosevelt admired her work, calling her a "trump in every way." Earlier, Alice French had spent six weeks touring Europe with ANDREW CARNEGIE. The 11 short stories in this volume are set in the Arkansas river bottoms of Clover Bend near Walnut Ridge in Lawrence County, Arkansas. A native of Iowa, Alice French, was six feet tall, weighed 240 pounds, and never married. She and her lifelong friend and companion, JANE ALLEN CRAWFORD, whose family owned one third of the 5,000 acre Arkansas plantation, first visited in 1885. Both Alice and Jane fell in love with the rugged area and they first rented a cottage. When the house burned, the two women bought a few acres on the banks of the Black River and built a GORGEOUS three-story house,with indoor plumbing in 1895. They lived part of the year in Arkansas until 1910 where they entertained lots of guests and Alice planted over 500 varieties of trees and roses. Alice wrote her best fiction in the third story office of her Clover Bend home. Having lived in Arkansas from 1885---1910, Thanet's best stories are set in the area. However, her stories became dated and her Arkansas dialects seemed contrived. She was passionately opposed to women's suffrage and she held a low opinion of the Arkansas African Americans and many of the "locals" whom she considered "country hicks" and backwoods rednecks! In 1910, Alice and Jane sold THANFORD---their Arkansas house and practically 'gave away' the fine furniture, including a 9-foot Steinway piano, sterling silver, and Haviland china. The ladies returned to Davenport, Iowa, where they lived the remainder of their lives. When Alice French died in Iowa in 1934, her works were out of print and she was largely unknown. 232 pages, including an Index. I offer Combined shipping.

Price: 12.95 USD

Location: Walnut Ridge, Arkansas

End Time: 2024-12-08T17:56:06.000Z

Shipping Cost: 8 USD