Mary Greenway McClelland | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | August 5, 1853  Norwood |
| Died | August 2, 1895 (aged 41) |
| Occupation | Writer |
Mary Greenway McClelland (August 5, 1853 – August 2, 1895) was an American novelist who wrote under the name M. G. McClelland.
Mary Greenway McClelland was born on August 5, 1853, in Norwood, a small village in Nelson County, Virginia.[1] She was the daughter of Thomas Stanhope McClelland, a prominent lawyer, and Maria Louisa Graf, the daughter of a German-born Baltimore merchant.[2] When she was young, her parents moved to Elm Cottage, an isolated home in Buckingham County, Virginia where she spent the rest of her life.[1]
Her first publication was Ole Ike's Memories (1884), a 16-page collection of poems in African-American dialect. She went on to publish many novels, mostly through publisher Henry Holt and Co. She published in magazines including Lippincott's Monthly, Youth's Companion, and Harper's Monthly. She also served on the editorial staff of Peterson's Magazine.[1][3]
Her novels have attracted little critical notice after the 19th century. Several authors have taken note of the love triangle in Broadoaks, where a Northern and a Southern man compete for the affections of the same woman.[4][5] Cratis D. Williams criticized the portrayal of Southern mountaineers in three of her novels, writing that "her interpretations lack the ring of authenticity. Her knowledge of her subjects had been gathered from frontier fiction, magazine stories, and hearsay."[6]
She died of tuberculosis at Elm Cottage on August 2, 1895.[1]
- ^ a b c d McBRYDE, JR., JOHN MCLAREN (1909). "MARY GREENWAY McCLELLAND". Library of southern literature;. Vol. 8. Cornell University Library. New Orleans, Atlanta [etc] The Martin & Hoyt company. pp. 3477–81.
- ^ Brown, Alexander (1895). The Cabells and their kin. A memorial volume of history, biography, and genealogy. Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center. Boston and New York, Houghton, Mifflin & co. pp. 345–46.
- ^ Holman, Harriet R. (1948). "Mary Greenway McClelland, 1853–1895". The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography. 56 (3): 294–298. ISSN 0042-6636. JSTOR 4245560.
- ^ Censer, Jane Turner (1999). "Reimagining the North-South Reunion: Southern Women Novelists and the Intersectional Romance, 1876–1900". Southern Cultures. 5 (2): 64–91. doi:10.1353/scu.1999.0070. ISSN 1534-1488. S2CID 144380745.
- ^ Watson, Ritchie Devon (1985). The cavalier in Virginia fiction. Internet Archive. Baton Rouge : Louisiana State University Press. ISBN 978-0-8071-1212-0.
- ^ Williams, Cratis D.; Pipes, Martha H. (1976). "The Southern Mountaineer in Fact and Fiction: Part III". Appalachian Journal. 3 (3): 186–261. ISSN 0090-3779. JSTOR 40932100.