Harriet Prescott Spofford

Katrin Fischer (Babson College)

Ed. by Nick Selby, University of East Anglia
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.2: American (US) Writing and Culture: The Nineteenth Century, 1783-1900.
Vol. editors: J. Michael Duvall (College of Charleston), Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University), Tony Papanikolas (San Jose State University)

Dates

Born 3 Apr 1835
Died 14 Aug 1921
Activity 1855-1921

Places

Born in United States
Active in United States

Activities

Primary

Novelist
Story-writer

Other

Letter-writer/ Diarist
Poet

Resources

Spofford's Works

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Despite her fertile oeuvre and the literary quality of some of her works, Harriet Prescott Spofford remains less known than most of her writing contemporaries. While Louisa May Alcott, Lydia Maria Child, Emily Dickinson, Sarah Orne Jewett, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Edith Wharton, and other nineteenth-century woman authors have long been critically acclaimed, Spofford still awaits to be fully (re-)discovered.

Harriet Elizabeth Prescott was born in 1835 as the first of seven children to Joseph Newmarch Prescott and Sarah Jane Bridges in Calais, Maine. She grew up in an intellectually vibrant atmosphere and was eager to learn, but opportunities for a formal education were limited due to the small-town setting and the family’s dire financial situation. Tough times –

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1338 words

Citation: Fischer, Katrin. "Harriet Prescott Spofford". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 10 May 2010 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=4176, accessed 24 November 2024.]