Author: Mary Meek Atkeson

Publisher:

Published: 2015-08-06

Total Pages: 70

ISBN-13: 9781332348954

Excerpt from A Study of the Local Literature of the Upper Ohio Valley, Vol. 26: With Especial Reference to the Early Pioneer and Indian Tales, 1820-1840 The present study of early literature in the Ohio Valley has grown out of the writer's interest in the general problems of local literature. It follows, and is in part a development of, an earlier study of "West Virginia Literature," written as a thesis for the degree of Master of Arts at West Virginia University in 1913. The interest shown by many readers in the earlier work has been a great encouragement to the writer to make further investigations in the same field. To one who heard in childhood at some Ohio Valley fireside these old stories of pioneer and Indian days, and who later laboriously spelled through the hair-raising accounts of Doddridge and Withers, there is a perennial appeal in the story of our pioneers - their ideas and accomplishments and all their manner of life. In reading great numbers of these early tales the writer has observed a noticeable development in both the spirit and form of these local writings of the Valley, particularly in the expression of a new and progressive Americanism and a tendency toward a matter-of-fact or realistic view of frontier life, unknown in the earlier American writers. If this be true, then this local literature - crude and uncouth as it is in many respects - is also of interest in a general view of the development of American literature. During the preparation of the present study the writer has been greatly assisted by general suggestions from Dean J. V. Denney and from Dr. George H. McKnight of the Ohio State University, and also by some special help in the study of the works of Chateaubriand from Dr. Madison Stathers of West Virginia University. The footnotes and bibliographical section will show to what extent the writer is indebted to earlier works on local literature. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.