''St. Elmo'' is a novel by American author

Augusta Jane Evans Augusta Jane Evans Wilson (May 8, 1835 – May 9, 1909), was an American author of Southern literature and a patriot of the South. She was the first woman to earn through her writing. Wilson was a native of Columbus, Georgia, and her first book ...

published in 1866. Featuring the sexual tension between the protagonist St. Elmo, a cynical man, and the heroine Edna Earl, a beautiful and devout girl, the novel was about the agency of women who could save men from apostasy. The novel became one of the most popular novels of the 19th century. The novel sold a million copies within four months of its publication. Augusta Jane Evans (May 8, 1835 – May 9, 1909) finished her celebrated novel at El Dorado, a historical home in

Columbus, Georgia Columbus is a consolidated city-county located on the west-central border of the U.S. state of Georgia. Columbus lies on the Chattahoochee River directly across from Phenix City, Alabama. It is the county seat of Muscogee County, with which it ...

. In 1878, the home was purchased by Captain and Mrs. James J. Slade who changed its name to St. Elmo in honor of the novel which it had inspired.

Female characters

She wrote in the

domestic Domestic may refer to: In the home * Anything relating to the human home or family ** A domestic animal, one that has undergone domestication ** A domestic appliance, or home appliance ** A domestic partnership ** Domestic science, sometimes c ...

, sentimental style of the

Victorian Age In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edward ...

. Critics have praised the intellectual competence of her female characters, even though her heroines eventually succumb to traditional values. The book opens with a quote attributed to

John Ruskin John Ruskin (8 February 1819 20 January 1900) was an English writer, philosopher, art critic and polymath of the Victorian era. He wrote on subjects as varied as geology, architecture, myth, ornithology, literature, education, botany and pol ...

Ah! The true rule is —a true wife in her husband's house is his servant; it is in his heart that she is queen. Whatever of the best he can conceive, it is her part to be; all that is dark in him she must purge into purity; all that is failing in him she must strengthen into truth; from her, through all the world's clamor, he must win his praise; in her through all the world's warfare, he must find his peace.

She has been described as an

antifeminist Antifeminism, also spelled anti-feminism, is opposition to some or all forms of feminism. In the late 19th century and early 20th century, antifeminists opposed particular policy proposals for women's rights, such as the right to vote, educat ...

. In ''St. Elmo'' Wilson describes feminists as "unamiable and wretched wives" and calls them the "embittered, disappointed old maids of New England". Recent feminist scholars have noted the complexity in categorizing her work, reading the typical marriage themes of the Victorian novel superficially, and giving more weight to the intellectual capability of her female characters. Of ''St. Elmo'' one critic maintained, "the trouble with the heroine of ''St. Elmo'' was that she swallowed an unabridged dictionary." Wilson's works are considered to fall within the genre of "domestic fiction", and so have never been included in the literary canon because that genre is not considered worth including. Wilson's female characters diverged from the Victorian ideal. Women's lives changed in the aftermath of the Civil War, and during the War, they had assumed responsibilities outside the home. Evans herself had worked at a Confederate hospital in Mobile, Alabama over the objections of her male relatives. Evans likely had this post-bellum context in mind. Edna, the heroine in ''St. Elmo's'' was responsible and educated. Although Edna was not fully confined to the domestic sphere, Wilson's feminine ideal was not the suffragette style of feminism, which did not appeal to all classes of women in 1886. Critics, especially modern feminists, have viewed Edna's marriage as a disappointing conclusion to the character's otherwise spirited defense of women's intellect and agency.

Editions and censorship

Some of the novel's controversial passages were removed from the New York Grosset and Dunlap edition (1896) of the book. These include passages on feminism and the "woman's sphere" from Chapter XXVI. Some of the content casts women of the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...

in a negative light, calling them "perverted" and accusing feminists of criminal acts. Twelve lines from Edna's speech were excised including "utter ignorance is infinitely preferable to erudite unwomanliness". Another forty-five lines were removed including: "I never hear that word 'equality' without a shudder". It remains a mystery why these parts of the text found in the W. Nicholson & Sons edition were left out of the New York edition. Her books were banned by the American Library Association in 1881: "by reason of sensation or immoral qualities".

In popular culture

The novel ''St. Elmo'' was frequently adapted for both the stage and screen. It inspired the naming of towns, hotels, steamboats, and a cigar brand. St. Elmo, Texas located in Freestone County near Winkler (Navarro County) southeast of Corsicana on the southside of Richland-Chambers Resivor, is believed to be named after the book. St. Elmo School, though first unnamed and founded around 1850, took on the novel's name around 1875 when a wood-framed, one-room schoolhouse was first constructed in the rural setting. The book's heroine Edna Earl became the namesake of

Eudora Welty Eudora Alice Welty (April 13, 1909 – July 23, 2001) was an American short story writer, novelist and photographer who wrote about the American South. Her novel '' The Optimist's Daughter'' won the Pulitzer Prize in 1973. Welty received numerou ...

's heroine (Edna Earle Ponder) in ''

The Ponder Heart ''The Ponder Heart'' is a novella written by Eudora Welty and illustrated by Joe Krush, originally published in ''The New Yorker'' in 1953, and republished by Harcourt Brace in 1954. The plot of ''The Ponder Heart'' follows Daniel Ponder, a wealthy ...

'' published in 1954. The novel also inspired a parody of itself called ''St. Twel'mo, or the Cuneiform Cyclopedist of Chattanooga'' (1867) by

Charles Henry Webb Charles Henry Webb (January 24, 1834 – May 24, 1905) was an American poet, author and journalist. He was particularly known for his parodies and humorous writings. Biography Webb was born at Rouse's Point, New York in 1834. Webb worked as ...

.Harris, Susan K. ''Nineteenth-Century American Women's Novels: Interpretative Strategies''. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1990: 60. A film and website on Augusta Evans Wilson entitled ''The Passion of Miss Augusta''Foundation for New Media Inc. - The Passion of Miss Augusta
/ref> was produced by Alabama filmmaker Robert Clem and aired on public television in 2016, the 150th anniversary of the publication of ''St. Elmo.'' ;Film adaptations The novel has inspired the production of a number of films. These include in chronological order: * ''St. Elmo'' (1910 Thanhouser film), a silent film * ''St. Elmo'' (1910 Vitagraph film), a silent film * ''St. Elmo'' (1914 film), a silent film * ''St. Elmo'' (1923 American film), a silent film * ''St. Elmo'' (1923 British film), a silent film

References

Bibliography

* * {{cite book, last=Censer, first=Jane Turner, title=The Reconstruction of White Southern Womanhood, 1865–1895, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K_Lv8ab6GW8C&pg=PA92, date=30 September 2003, publisher=LSU Press, isbn=978-0-8071-4816-7

External links

''St. Elmo''
at the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

''St. Elmo''
unabridged version including excised passages at

''St. Elmo''
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 ...

1866 American novels American novels adapted into films Censored books