Description
Book SynopsisA historical novel, first published in 1842, about vengeance mistaken for religious fervor, set against the Salem witchcraft trials of 1692. This novel was a critical source for Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter. Introduced and annotated by Hawthorne scholar Richard Kopley.
Trade Review“It is wonderful to have The Salem Belle back in print, edited expertly by Richard Kopley. Published eight years before The Scarlet Letter, Ebenezer Wheelwright’s novel was an important part of the cultural mix behind Hawthorne's masterpiece, as Kopley demonstrates in his perceptive introduction. The Salem Belle also stands on its own as a thought-provoking novel about Puritan times written from the perspective of nineteenth-century America.”
—David S. Reynolds,author of Beneath the American Renaissance and Walt Whitman's America
“Richard Kopley’s discovery that Ebenezer Wheelwright’s The Salem Belle (1842) was a precursor to Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter (1850) is substantiated by his careful and perceptive attention to detail. The novel itself is fun and quirky and explores the kinds of historical and cultural issues that also motivated Hawthorne. Kopley’s argument is sound, clear, and persuasive, and the connections he makes are right on target.”
—Samuel Chase Coale,Wheaton College
“Richard Kopley has provided a valuable service by making available this historical work about Salem, which served as one of the sources for The Scarlet Letter. Not only is it interesting to look for intertextualities between the two books, but this work stands on its own as a fascinating portrait of the turbulent times it describes.”
—Joel Myerson,University of South Carolina
“Hawthorne scholars will be intrigued by Richard Kopley’s claim that several passages toward the end of The Salem Belle inspired passages in the forest and New England holiday sections of Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter. Reprinting The Salem Belle also contributes an additional text to conversations about the witchcraft hysteria that many people, especially students, probably know from Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. The novel provides another fictional window onto seventeenth-century Boston and Salem society—especially the social and religious scenes. It is an easy read, and when the plot thickens with the vengeance-inspired accusations that Mary Lyford is a witch, it is compelling.”
—Leland S. Person,University of Cincinnati
Table of ContentsContents
Acknowledgments
Note on the Text
Introduction by Richard Kopley
The Salem Belle: A Tale of 1692
Appendix A: Publication History of The Salem Belle
Appendix B: Reviews of The Salem Belle
Appendix C: Scholarship on, and Scholarly Mention of, The Salem Belle
Notes
