Hobomok, A Tale of Early Times. is a novel by the nineteenth-century American author and human rights campaigner Lydia Maria Child. Her first novel, published in 1824[1] under the pseudonym "An American", was inspired by John G. Palfrey's article in the North American Review. The novel is set during the late 1620s and 1630s. Among other themes, it relates the marriage of a recently immigrated white American woman, Mary Conant, to the eponymous Native American and her attempt to raise their son in white society.[2]
The subject of miscegenation being taboo, the book initially fared poorly. An early review in the North American Review called the story "unnatural" and "revolting to every feeling of delicacy".[3] However, before too long (and partly due to Child's intervention in Boston literary circles), many prominent Bostonians celebrated the novel.[2] Child was later active as an abolitionist, feminist and supporter of Native Americans.[4]
- ^ "Lydia Maria Child, Letters of Lydia Maria Child, Introduction". perseus.tufts.edu. Retrieved November 18, 2016.
- ^ a b Bruce Mills, "Introduction", in Letters from New-York, ed. Athens, University of Georgia Press, 1998, p. xi. ISBN 978-0-8203-2077-9.
- ^ "[Recent American Novels]". The North American Review: 78–104. July 1, 1825.
- ^ Karcher, 1988 p. x–xi: Women’s rights leaders and abolitionists Sarah Moore Grimké and Elizabeth Cady Stanton "would acknowledge Child as a forerunner".