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Tabitha Gilman Tenney (1762–1837) was an early American author from
Exeter, New Hampshire.
Writing
Tenney's novel ''Female
Quixotism, Exhibited in the Romantic Opinions and Extravagant Adventures of Dorcasina Sheldon'', which followed
Cervantes in attacking the delusions encouraged by romantic literature, was first published in two volumes in 1801.
Literary historian F. L. Patee has described ''Female Quixotism'' (1801) as the most popular novel written in America prior to the publication of ''
Uncle Tom's Cabin'' in 1852. ''Female Quixotism'' went through at least five editions and was still in print when
Harriet Beecher Stowe
Harriet Elisabeth Beecher Stowe (; June 14, 1811 – July 1, 1896) was an American author and abolitionist. She came from the religious Beecher family and became best known for her novel ''Uncle Tom's Cabin'' (1852), which depicts the harsh ...
wrote her landmark book.
A quote fro
page 23 of her bookshows signs of an early feminist attitude: ''"Those enemies to female improvement thought a woman had no business with any book but the bible, or perhaps the art of cookery; believing that everything beyond these served only to disqualify her for the duties of domestic life."''
Family life
Tabitha was a teenager during the American Revolution. Exeter was the Revolutionary capitol of New Hampshire. She was the second cousin of
Nicholas Gilman
Nicholas Gilman Jr. (August 3, 1755May 2, 1814) was an American Founding Father, a soldier in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, a delegate to the Continental Congress, and a signer of the U.S. Constitution, represent ...
, NH State Treasurer during the American Revolution. Her uncle Peter Gilman was a Brigadier. Her parents were Samuel and Lydia.
In 1788, she married
Samuel Tenney
Samuel Tenney (November 27, 1748 – February 6, 1816) was a United States representative from New Hampshire. Born in Byfield in the Province of Massachusetts Bay, he attended Governor Dummer Academy and graduated from Harvard College in 1772. ...
, a former army surgeon. They had no children. He was elected to Congress in 1788.
He became a long-time judge in Exeter.
Their house originally stood next door to the town hall and courthouse, but was moved, and currently stands at 65 High Street.
Upon her 1837 death in Exeter, she was buried at the Winter Street Burial Ground.
Further reading
By Tenney
* ''New Pleasing Instructor''
* ''Tabitha Tenney. Female quixotism: exhibited in the romantic opinions and extravagant adventures of Dorcasina Sheldon''.
** Boston: Printed by I. Thomas and E.T. Andrews, 1801.
** Boston: J. P. Peaslee, 1825. Google book
v.1**Oxford University Press, 1991 "Female Quixotism" with foreword by feminist scholars
About Tenney
* "Tabitha Tenney" in: Evert Augustus Duyckinck, George Long Duyckinck. ''Cyclopaedia of American Literature''. NY: C. Scribner, 1856
Google books*
* Cynthia J. Miecznikowski. The Parodic Mode and the Patriarchal Imperative: Reading the Female Reader(s) in Tabitha Tenney's "Female Quixotism". ''Early American Literature'', Vol. 25, No. 1 (1990), pp. 34–45
* Linda Frost. The Body Politic in Tabitha Tenney's "Female Quixotism". ''Early American Literature'', Vol. 32, No. 2 (1997), pp. 113–134
*Gretchen McBride, scholar, "Rediscovering Tabitha Tenney" lecture on video
Rediscovering Tabitha Gilman Tenney
References
External links
* WorldCat
Tabitha Tenney* Open Library
Female Quixotism
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tenney, Tabitha Gilman
1762 births
1837 deaths
19th-century American novelists
American women novelists
Gilman family of New Hampshire
People from Exeter, New Hampshire
Novelists from New Hampshire
19th-century American women writers