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Article: Puritan providences in Stowe's 'The Pearl of Orr's Island': the legacy of Cotton Mather. (Harriet Beecher Stowe)
- Article from:
- Studies in American Fiction
- Article date:
- March 22, 1994
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1994 Northeastern University. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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In her semi-autobiographical novel, Poganuc People, Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote, "It was a happy hour when [father] brought home and set up in his book-case Cotton Mather's |Magnalia,' in a new edition of two volumes. What wonderful stories these! and stories, too, about her own country, stories that made her feel that the very ground she trod on was consecrated by some special dealing of God's providence."(1) Many literary historians have explored the Calvinist upbringing of Harriet Beecher Stowe, and the profound influence of her father, Rev. Lyman Beecher, on her life and her letters; and, for their part, literary critics have examined Stowe's response to Calvinism in ...