''Anne'' is a novel first published in 1880 by author

Constance Fenimore Woolson Constance Fenimore Woolson (March 5, 1840 – January 24, 1894) was an American novelist, poet, and short story writer. She was a grandniece of James Fenimore Cooper, and is best known for fictions about the Great Lakes region, the Americ ...

, noted as a work of

American literary regionalism American literary regionalism or local color is a style or genre of writing in the United States that gained popularity in the mid to late 19th century into the early 20th century. In this style of writing, which includes both poetry and prose, the ...

Plot

It depicts the emotional and spiritual conflicts faced by its eponymous heroine as she leaves her home village, Mackinac Island, to seek a future as a young woman in the Northeastern United States. Her good qualities win her many suitors, but she finds hypocrisy and dysfunctional social relationships among the wealthier strata of U.S. Victorian society. Eventually she selects a suitor who, although of wealthy origins, has lost his means and is ready to accept the stolid virtues of the American working class. Anne Douglas returns with her new partner to her place of origin.

Publication history and response

''Anne'' was first published through serialization in ''

Harper's New Monthly Magazine ''Harper's Magazine'' is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts. Launched in New York City in June 1850, it is the oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the U.S. (''Scientific American'' is older, b ...

''. Upon republication as a book in 1882, the work became a bestseller and was reviewed in ''

The Nation ''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper t ...

'', '' The Century'', and other leading periodicals of the day. Many readers and reviewers appreciated the book, as it depicted a wide variety of settings and social circumstances, with a particular eye for the picturesque elements to be seen on the shores of northern Lake Huron inhabited by persons who had come to live in harmony with the ecology of the

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five lak ...

. Woolson's sentimental depiction of a rural setting was attractive to a readership increasingly tied to smoky, industrial cities. Among the earliest to recognize Woolson's talent was critic

Horace Scudder Horace Elisha Scudder (October 16, 1838 – January 11, 1902) was an American man of letters and editor. Biography He was born into a Boston family as the youngest of seven siblings—six brothers and one sister. His siblings included Davi ...

, who anticipated she would eventually be elevated into the American literary canon alongside great writers like

Ralph Waldo Emerson Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803April 27, 1882), who went by his middle name Waldo, was an American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, abolitionist, and poet who led the transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. He was seen as a champ ...

and

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (February 27, 1807 – March 24, 1882) was an American poet and educator. His original works include " Paul Revere's Ride", '' The Song of Hiawatha'', and ''Evangeline''. He was the first American to completely tran ...

. His review of ''Anne'' in ''

The Atlantic Monthly ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...

'', however, noted the "immaturity of the book" and predicted it would be remembered "chiefly as a marking stage in the author's development".Boyd, Anne E. ''Writing for Immortality: Women and the Emergence of High Literary Culture in America''. Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004: 219. Annestablet_mackinacisland

''Anne'' was republished as a volume in 1882 by

Harper and Brothers Harper is an American publishing house, the flagship imprint of global publisher HarperCollins based in New York City. History J. & J. Harper (1817–1833) James Harper and his brother John, printers by training, started their book publishin ...

. Sales of the novel faded with changing literary tastes; Woolson admirer Anne Boyd Rioux confessed in 2014 that "self-sacrificing heroines like Margaret in ''East Angels'' and Anne in ''Anne'' seem almost impossibly good to our eyes today." The work's copyright has expired and it is in the

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly waived, or may be inapplicable. Because those rights have expired, ...

in its country of publication, the United States. '' Anne's Tablet'', erected on Mackinac Island in 1916, is a tribute to author Woolson and to ''Anne''.

References

External links

''Anne''
with illustrations by C. S. Reinhart at

Project Gutenberg Project Gutenberg (PG) is a volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, as well as to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks." It was founded in 1971 by American writer Michael S. Hart and is the oldest digital libr ...

{{Authority control 1880 American novels Novels set in Michigan