Catharine Sedgwick

At 77 years old, Catharine Sedgwick physical status not available right now. We will update Catharine Sedgwick's height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, and measurements.

As a young woman, Sedgwick took charge of a school in Lenox. She converted from Calvinism to Unitarianism, which led her to write a pamphlet denouncing religious intolerance. This further inspired her to write her first novel, A New-England Tale. Redwood accordingly followed in 1824. It was received at once with a degree of favour that caused the author's name to be associated, and on equal terms, with that of James Fenimore Cooper, who was then at the height of his popularity; and, indeed, in a French translation of the book, which then appeared, Cooper is given on the title-page as the author. Redwood was also translated into the Italian, besides being reprinted in England.

Sedgwick then engaged in a work of somewhat humbler aim than Redwood, and in 1825 was published The Travellers, a work professing to give the narrative of a journey made by two very young persons, a brother and sister, with their parents, to Niagara Falls and the northern lakes. On their way, these travelers meet everywhere some incident or some sight, which is made the source of entertainment and instruction. This was the first of Sedgwick's books intended for young persons and the public gave it a ready welcome. Its success encouraged her in after years to write the series of works intended for young readers which became popular.

The reputation of the author was confirmed and extended by the appearance, in 1827, of Hope Leslie, the most decided favourite of all her novels. She wrote other things afterward, that in the opinion of some of the critics are superior to either Redwood or Hope Leslie. But these later writings had to jostle their way among a crowd of competitors, both domestic and foreign. Her earlier works stood alone, and Hope Leslie, especially, became firmly associated in the public mind with the rising form of a native literature. It was not only read with satisfaction but familiarly quoted and applauded as a source of national pride. Her subsequent novels followed at about uniform intervals, Clarence, a Tale of our Own Times appearing in 1830.

Sedgwick gives the Native American population a voice within Hope Leslie through her characterization of various people within the novel. Similar to the manner in which Sedgwick represented a progressive attitude toward the supposed duties of women during the time period, Philip Gura highlights her addition of minority groups as significant characters and her commitment to questioning the history of the nation that has been told exclusively by white men.

A little later, the Brothers Harper conceived the idea of publishing a collection of tales by several well-known authors, and applied to Sedgwick to become one of the contributors. She complied, and two volumes were published in 1832, with the title of Tales of the Glauber Spa. Sedgwick's contribution was a tale of the times of Charlemagne, titled "Le Bossu", in which she skillfully availed herself of the elements of the picturesque to be found in the customs of that warlike age, and the court of that monarch. Then came The Linwoods, or Sixty Years Since in America, in 1835. In 1836, she commenced writing in a new vein, giving a series of illustrations of common life, called The Poor Rich Man, and the Rich Poor Man. These were followed, in 1837, by Live and Let Live, and afterwards by Means and Ends, a Love Token for Children, and Stories for Young Persons.

In 1839, Miss Sedgwick went to Europe, and while there, wrote Letters from Abroad to Kindred at Home. These were collected after her return and published in two volumes. She also wrote a Life of Lucretia M. Davidson, and contributed numerous articles to the Annuals and the Magazines. Some of her publications were prepared expressly for children and young persons. The Boy of Mount Rhigi, published in 1848, was one of a series of tales projected for the purpose of diffusing sentiments of goodness among the young. The titles of some of her other small volumes are Facts and Fancies, Beatitudes and Pleasant Sundays, Morals of Manners, Wilton Harvey, Home, Louisa and her Cousins, and Lessons without Books. In her final novel, Married or Single (1857), she put forth the bold idea that women should not marry if it meant they would lose their self-respect (but she married off her heroine).

In later years, both the brothers who resided in New York City were dead; and her time was divided among her friends in the neighborhood of Boston and those in her native Berkshire. At this time, she wrote Memoir of Joseph Curtis, a Model Man.

Source