Murfree, Mary Noailles

Murfree, Mary Noailles

▪ American writer
pseudonym  Charles Egbert Craddock  
born Jan. 24, 1850, near Murfreesboro, Tenn., U.S.
died July 31, 1922, Murfreesboro
 American writer in the local-colour (local colour) movement, most of whose stories present the narrow, stern life of the Tennessee mountaineers who were left behind in the advance of civilization.

      Mary Murfree studied at Chegaray Institute, a French school in Philadelphia, in 1867–69. With the failure of her father's business in 1869 the family returned to their native Murfreesboro, Tennessee (which was named in 1811 for her great-grandfather). There Murfree began writing stories for her own and her family's entertainment. In 1874 one of her stories appeared in Lippincott's Magazine under the name “R. Emmet Dembry,” and her writing career was begun. A story in The Atlantic Monthly in 1878 appeared under the name “Charles Egbert Craddock,” which she used thereafter.

      Murfree's first book, In the Tennessee Mountains (1884), collects several of her stories from the Atlantic. Where the Battle Was Fought (1884), her first novel, was followed by In the Clouds (1886), The Despot of Broomsedge Cove (1889), In the “Stranger People's” Country (1891), His Vanished Star (1894), The Juggler (1897), and The Young Mountaineers (1897), among others. The revelation in 1885 of Charles Craddock's true identity added greatly to Murfree's celebrity and to interest in her writing. Her knowledge of mountaineer ways and rural dialect enabled her to make a large contribution to the local-colour movement in American fiction; however, her work was frequently marred by formal shortcomings in diction and development.

      Murfree's later works are mostly historical fictions, and while they indicate the maturing of her craft they lack the spontaneity of her earlier work.

* * *


Universalium. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужен реферат?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Mary Noailles Murfree — (January 24, 1850 – July 31, 1922) was an American fiction writer of novels and short stories who wrote under the pen name Charles Egbert Craddock.[1] She is c …   Wikipedia

  • Murfree, Mary Noailles (Charles Egbert Craddock) —    American novelist. In the Tennessee Mountains (1884), Down the Ravine (1885), The Prophet of the Great Smoky Mountains (1886), Story of Keedar Bluffs (1887), His Vanished Star (1894), The Juggler (1897), The Bushwhackers (1899), etc …   Short biographical dictionary of English literature

  • Murfree — may refer to: Hardy Murfree (1752–1809), a military officer from North Carolina during the American Revolutionary War Mary Noailles Murfree (1850–1922), an American fiction writer who wrote under the pen name Charles Egbert Craddock William H.… …   Wikipedia

  • Hardy Murfree — (June 5, 1752 – April 6, 1809) was a Lieutenant Colonel from North Carolina during the American Revolutionary War.[1] Contents 1 Military career 2 Family 3 References …   Wikipedia

  • American literature — Introduction       the body of written works produced in the English language in the United States.       Like other national literatures, American literature was shaped by the history of the country that produced it. For almost a century and a… …   Universalium

  • local colour — ▪ American literature       style of writing derived from the presentation of the features and peculiarities of a particular locality and its inhabitants. The name is given especially to a kind of American literature that in its most… …   Universalium

  • Craddock, Charles Egbert —    see Murfree, Mary Noailles …   Short biographical dictionary of English literature

  • Regionalism (literature) — Regionalism, or local color fiction, was a perspective of literature that gained popularity in the United States after the Civil War. Local color writers depicted nearly every region of the United States, lending realism to their stories by… …   Wikipedia

  • List of women writers — compactTOC NOTOC A* Eleanor Hallowell Abbott * Louise Abeita * Abiola Abrams * Kathy Acker * Juliette Adam * Abigail Adams * Stephanie Adams (born 1970), American author. * Fleur Adcock (born 1935) * Yda Addis * Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie * Renata… …   Wikipedia

  • Murfreesboro, Tennessee —   City   …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
… Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”