Eliza A. Dupuy

Eliza A. Dupuy
BornEliza Ann Dupuy
c. 1814
Petersburg, Virginia, U.S.
DiedDecember 29, 1880
New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.
Occupation
  • literateur
  • author
LanguageEnglish
NationalityAmerican
Genre

Eliza Ann Dupuy (c. 1814 – December 29, 1880) was a littérateur and pioneer author of the Southern United States. She is remembered as the first woman of Mississippi to earn her living as a writer.[1]

Dupuy wrote approximately 25 Gothic thrillers during the period of 1845 through 1880,[2][3] as well as domestic novels,[4] and short stories, making her perhaps one of the most widely-known authors of her day.[5] At an early age, she became a governess in Natchez, Mississippi and while so employed wrote her first book, The Conspirators, in which Aaron Burr is the principal character. Her other works included The Huguenot Exiles, Emma Wattou, or Trials and Triumphs, Celeste, Florence, or the Fatal Vow, Separation, Concealed Treasure, Ashleigh, and The Country Neighborhood. She wrote in all about forty stories, most of them for the New York Ledger.[6] In later life, she experienced a weakness of the eyes.

  1. ^ Smith, Frank (28 January 1990). "Dupuy pioneered as professional writer and tutor". Newspapers.com. Clarion-Ledger. p. 57. Retrieved 1 July 2020. Open access icon
  2. ^ Perry & Weaks-Baxter 2002, p. 49.
  3. ^ Wells 2011, p. 88.
  4. ^ Clymer 2013, p. 178.
  5. ^ Raymond 1870, pp. 87–89.
  6. ^ Wilson & Fiske 1888, p. 267.