''Nick of the Woods; or, The Jibbenainesay '' is an 1837 novel by American author

Robert Montgomery Bird Robert Montgomery Bird (February 5, 1806 – January 23, 1854) was an American novelist, playwright, and physician. Early life and education Bird was born in New Castle, Delaware on February 5, 1806.Ehrlich, Eugene and Gorton Carruth. ''The Oxfor ...

. Noted today for its savage depiction of Native Americans, it was Bird's most successful novel and a best-seller at the time of its release.Weinstock, Jeffre
The Ashgate Encyclopedia of Literary and Cinematic Monsters
p. 437 (2014)

Publication

The novel was eventually published in twenty-three editions in English, and four translations, including a best-selling German translation by Gustav Höcker.Hart, James D
The Popular Book: A History of America's Literary Taste
p. 80 (1951) The long popularity of the novel is evidenced by the fact that

Mark Twain Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has p ...

referenced the main character of the book in 1883's '' Life on the Mississippi'', presuming the audience would know the reference.

Plot and reception

The novel is set in

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

in the 1780s and revolves around the mysterious figure of "Nick of the Woods", dressed as a monster, who seeks to avenge the death of his family by killing numerous Indians, carving a cross on the body of all he slays. "Nick" is revealed to be Nathan Slaughter, a

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...

by day who should by nature and creed avoid all violence. Bird's brutal depiction of Native Americans (the

Shawnee The Shawnee are an Algonquian-speaking indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands. In the 17th century they lived in Pennsylvania, and in the 18th century they were in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, with some bands in Kentucky a ...

) was very hostile, and in part a reaction to the more positive representation of Indians by

James Fenimore Cooper James Fenimore Cooper (September 15, 1789 – September 14, 1851) was an American writer of the first half of the 19th century, whose historical romances depicting colonist and Indigenous characters from the 17th to the 19th centuries brought h ...

in the

Leatherstocking Tales The ''Leatherstocking Tales'' is a series of five novels by American writer James Fenimore Cooper, set in the eighteenth-century era of development in the primarily former Iroquois areas in central New York. Each novel features Natty Bumppo, ...

.Lubbers, Klaus
Born for the Shade: Stereotypes of the Native American in United States Literature and the Visual Arts, 1776-1894
pp. 279-82 (1994) This heightened level of violence on the American frontier may have been inspired by ''

Logan Logan may refer to: Places * Mount Logan (disambiguation) Australia * Logan (Queensland electoral district), an electoral district in the Queensland Legislative Assembly * Logan, Victoria, small locality near St. Arnaud * Logan City, local gover ...

'' (1822) by John Neal. The novel has been called a "prominent example of the American Gothic form." ''The Columbia Companion to American History on Film'', which dubs Nathan Slaughter "a one-man genocide squad", also credits the novel for popularizing the mode of unintelligent Indian speaking ("Me Inju-man! ... Me kill all white man!") used by many later authors and in movies.Rollins, Peter C. (ed.
The Columbia Companion to American History on Film
pp. 277-78 (2003)

Adaptations

The novel was also adapted for the stage in at least three versions, the most popular one by Louisa Medina.Snodgrass, Mary Ellen
Encyclopedia of Gothic Literature
pp. 27-28 (2005)Hall, Roger A
Performing the American Frontier, 1870-1906
p. 29 (2001) The Medina version debuted at the

Bowery Theatre The Bowery Theatre was a playhouse on the Bowery in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York City. Although it was founded by rich families to compete with the upscale Park Theatre, the Bowery saw its most successful period under the populi ...

in New York on February 5, 1838 to great success, although a fire burned down the house after two weeks. It returned to the Bowery in 1839 when it re-opened. The role of Nick became a lifetime starring role for actor

Joseph Proctor Joseph Proctor (May 7, 1816 – October 2, 1897) was a popular 19th-century American actor. He was best known for playing the lead role in the melodrama '' Nick of the Woods''.(3 October 1897)Joseph Proctor (obituary) ''The New York Times''. ...

.Bank, Rosemarie K
Theatre Culture in America, 1825-1860
p. 72 (1997) In his introduction to ''Victorian Melodramas'' (1976), James L. Smith called the play "the most successful American melodrama for more than half a century."Rodriguez, Miriam Lopez (ed.
Women's Contribution to Nineteenth-century American Theatre
p. 35 (2004)

References

External links

Nick of the Woods
at gutenberg.org
Nick of the Woods, Vol. I, 1837, Carey, Lea & Blanchard
at archive.org
Nick of the Woods, Vol. II, 1837, Carey, Lea & Blanchard
at archive.org
Nick of the Woods, Vol I-III, 1837
(English edition, edited by

W. Harrison Ainsworth William Harrison Ainsworth (4 February 18053 January 1882) was an English historical novelist born at King Street in Manchester. He trained as a lawyer, but the legal profession held no attraction for him. While completing his legal studies in ...

), at Google Books
Nick of the Woods. A drama in three acts
Medina play, at Google Books

at Penn Library Exhibition on Robert Montgomery Bird {{Authority control Novels set in Kentucky 1837 American novels Novels set in the 1780s Novels set in the American colonial era Literary characters introduced in 1837