Overview

In Sophia Peabody Hawthorne: A Life, Patricia Dunlavy Valenti presents Nathaniel Hawthorne's spouse on her own terms, situating her remarkable life within its own historical, philosophical, and cultural context, and freeing her from notions that Nathaniel constructed and that his biographers perpetuated. The first of this two-volume work recounts Sophia's accomplishments as one of America's first professional women artists, a transcendentalist thinker, and a prolific travel writer. The second volume explores Sophia's abandonment of her artistic career—at Nathaniel's urging—to adopt the roles of wife and mother, widow and impoverished guardian of her husband's legacy, and, finally, expatriate.

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9780807185407

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Reviews

""A critical piece of scholarship on American women artists and women's contributions to transcendentalism, this book remains as relevant today as when it was first published."" - Kate Culkin, author of Emerson's Daughters: Ellen Tucker Emerson, Edith Emerson Forbes, and Their Family Legacy ""Patricia Dunlavy Valenti's first volume of Sophia Peabody Hawthorne: A Life challenges the critical, cultural, and familial constructions of the wife of one of America's greatest authors, while at the same time challenging our concept of biography itself."" - Andrea Knutson, associate professor, Department of English, Creative Writing and Film, Oakland University

Author Information

Patricia Dunlavy Valenti is professor emerita of English at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke. An award-winning teacher who held visiting professorships at the U.S. Military Academy and the U.S. Air Force Academy, she is the author of five books and numerous articles on American literature and biography.

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