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Rebecca Harding Davis
1831-1910
Born in Pennsylvania Rebecca Harding Davis grew up in
the mill town of Big Spring, Alabama where her observations of the
changes brought about by industrialization had a life-long influence on
the themes of her writing. She saw the conditions of women, particularly
working women, as a "...tragedy more real ... than any other
in life."
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Illustration for "By-paths in the Mountains,"
by Davis
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In her many articles for Atlantic Monthly, for
Appletons, Harper's New Monthly Magazine, The
Century, Lippencott's and Scribner's, and
other journals and magazines, she sought to expose inequities through
the real and the commonplace. Her fiction often characterized as
radical by her readers, moved from addressing the abuse of workers
by industrial capitalists, to prostitution, to slavery. In her desire to
expose life's inequities she pulled from incidences of
"accurate history" ... closely observed human interactions and
non-glorified depictions of daily life sometimes startling in
their brutal opinion. She was
not necessarily a sympathetic observer. She frequently pointed out life
and geography that was "peculiar" and exotic to her and by
doing so, distanced herself from the experience and revealed her
romantic heritage.
She often traveled to western North Carolina and her serialized
article about the region, "By-Paths in the Mountains,"
for Atlantic Monthly, vol. 61, iss. 363-364, weaves travelogue literature with careful observations of human
character. One of her characters sums up the typical picturesque travel
article that was the fashion of the day: "The history of all summering places is alike. An
adventurous artist usually ventures into a new field and whispers his
discovery to his friends. Scenery is well-nigh as popular a hobby just
now as household decoration. ..." Many women authors between 1850 and the 1890's wrote articles similar
to Davis'. They were
intended to appeal to the average reader and therefore, often reflected
common cultural values held at the time. The work of these authors is
sometimes referred to as "local color" literature, a kind of bridge between the romanticism of
the earlier century with the growing realism of the later century.
Harding fits this hybrid model well. Her article, "Life in the
iron mills : and other stories," published
in Atlantic Monthly in 1861,
is her classic study of industrialization.
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To read further
Reid, "The
Land of the Sky;" or, Adventures in Mountain By-Ways, Chapter I
Reid, "The
Land of the Sky;" or, Adventures in Mountain By-Ways, Chapter II
Reid, "The
Land of the Sky;" or, Adventures in Mountain By-Ways, Chapter III
Reid, "The
Land of the Sky;" or, Adventures in Mountain By-Ways, Chapter IV
Reid, "The
Land of the Sky;" or, Adventures in Mountain By-Ways, Chapter V
Reid, "The
Land of the Sky;" or, Adventures in Mountain By-Ways, Chapter VI
Reid, "The
Land of the Sky;" or, Adventures in Mountain By-Ways, Chapter VII
Reid, "The
Land of the Sky;" or, Adventures in Mountain By-Ways, ChapterVIII
Reid, "The
Land of the Sky;" or, Adventures in Mountain By-Ways, Chapter IX
Reid, "The
Land of the Sky;" or, Adventures in Mountain By-Ways, Chapter X
Reid, "The
Land of the Sky;" or, Adventures in Mountain By-Ways, Chapter XI
Reid, The
Land of the Sky, or Adventures in Mountain By-Ways, Chapter XII
Reid, The
Land of the Sky, or Adventures in Mountain By-Ways, Chapter XIII
Reid, The
Land in the Sky, or Adventures in Mountain By-Ways, Chapter XIV
Reid, The
Land of the Sky, or Adventures in Mountain By-Ways, Chapter XV
Reid, The
Land of the Sky, or Adventures in Mountain By-Ways, Chapter XVI
Reid, The
Land of the Sky, or Adventures in Mountain By-Ways, Chapter XVII
Reid, The
Land in the Sky, or Adventures in Mountain By-Ways, Chapter XVIII
Reid, "The
Mountain Region of North Carolina, " Appletons
Journal: a magazine of general literature,
Volume 2, Issue 13, March 1877.
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