A sharply observed, affectionate, and unsentimental portrait of life in a Maine fishing village, The Country of the Pointed Firs is Sarah Orne Jewett's most enduring work, and commonly regarded as the finest example of American regionalist literature in the nineteenth century. It was originally published in four installments of the Atlantic Monthly in 1896; this Broadview Edition is based on the Atlantic serialization and also includes the four other stories set in Dunnet Landing.

The critical introduction situates the text in its historical, cultural, and literary milieu, attending to its place in Jewett's oeuvre and in her biography. Appendices include earlier "local color" writing by Jewett and others, Jewett's letters, and contemporary reviews of the novel.

Comments:

"In this centenary year of the author's death Broadview Press is to be commended for bringing forth an excellent new edition of Sarah Orne Jewett's great work, The Country of the Pointed Firs. Considered by Willa Cather one of the American books guaranteed to endure, the text is here reproduced in its original integrity, after which are appended the sequel Dunnet Landing stories. Deborah Carlin's exceptionally informative annotations to the text will greatly enrich readers' appreciation and understanding. Also supplied is a useful selection of supplementary critical and historical material, including a rare, little-known, and very valuable 1895 interview with Jewett. The Country of the Pointed Firs is a distinguished addition to the impressive Broadview Editions series; I highly recommend it for classroom use, as well as for the general reader." - Josephine Donovan, Professor Emerita of English, University of Maine

Deborah Carlin is Professor of American Literary and Cultural Studies at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Table of Contents: [Back to Top]

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Sarah Orne Jewett: A Brief Chronology

A Note on the Text

The Country of the Pointed Firs

The Dunnet Landing Stories

1. The Queen's Twin (1899)
2. A Dunnet Shepherdess (1899)
3. The Foreigner (1900)
4. William's Wedding (1910)

Appendix A: Before The Country of the Pointed Firs: Precursors and Influences

1. Sarah Orne Jewett, Preface to the 1893 Deephaven Edition
2. Sarah Orne Jewett, Chapter Four, "Deephaven Society" from Deephaven
3. Sarah Orne Jewett, Chapter Five, "The Captains" from Deephaven
4. Harriet Beecher Stowe, "Aunt Roxy and Aunt Ruey," Chapter Four of The Pearl of Orr's Island: A Story of the Coast of Maine

Appendix B: Local Color Literature: 19th-Century Formulations and Definitions

1. William Dean Howells, "Editor's Study" (1887)
2. Hamlin Garland, "Local Color in Art" (1894)
3. James Lane Allen, "Two Principles in Recent American Fiction" (1897)
4. Bret Harte, "The Rise of the 'Short Story'" (1899)
5. William Dean Howells, "The Future of the American Novel" (1912)
6. Annie Steger Winston, "America As A Field For Fiction" (1900)

Appendix C: Selected Letters of Sarah Orne Jewett

Appendix D: Reviews of The Country of the Pointed Firs

Appendix E: Profiles of Sarah Orne Jewett

1. Anonymous, "Miss Jewett" (1894)
2. Anonymous, "Pleasant Day With Miss Jewett. How the New England Authoress Lives in Quaint Old Berwick Town. Her House and Her Horses. An Ideal Summer Life Down on the Coast of Maine—Her Stories and Novels and How They Are Written" (1895)
3. Charles Miner Thompson, "The Art of Miss Jewett" (1904)

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