Mary Chesnut's Civil War Diary: Opium, Revisions and a Contested Pulitzer

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!

Mary Boykin Chesnut was born in 1823 at Mount Pleasant plantation in South Carolina, the daughter of governor and senator Stephen Decatur Miller, and educated in Charleston at a French school run by refugees from the Haitian Revolution. At 17 she married James Chesnut Jr. and moved to Mulberry Plantation in Camden, where her father-in-law held about 500 enslaved people. Childless and depressed, she used opium and privately condemned the sexual abuse of enslaved women and the silence of white wives about it.

She began her diary on February 18, 1861, and from Charleston, Montgomery, Richmond and Columbia recorded life among Jefferson Davis, Varina Howell Davis, Wade Hampton and John Bell Hood as Confederate confidence wore away. Emancipation and debt left her nearly destitute after James died in 1885. Between 1881 and 1884, after translating French poetry and writing three unpublished novels, she reworked the diary into a narrative. C. Vann Woodward's 1981 edition won the 1982 Pulitzer Prize, while Kenneth Lynn called it a hoax.

Her father left politics and moved the family to three cotton plantations in Mississippi.
Her unpublished novels included The Captain and the Colonel and Manassas.
She entrusted the diary to her friend Isabella D. Martin, leading to a 1905 edition and a 1949 version by Ben Ames Williams.
Her revisions added people to scenes, invented conversations, and inserted reflections written with hindsight.
Mulberry Plantation is now a national historic landmark, its status tied in part to her diary.

Tämä jakso on lisätty Podme-palveluun avoimen RSS-syötteen kautta eikä se ole Podmen omaa tuotantoa. Siksi jakso saattaa sisältää mainontaa.

Jaksot(16184)

The Art of Adult Friendship: Why Quality Matters More Than Quantity

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!In this episode of pplpod, we explore how our understanding of friendship changes as we grow old...

9 Marras 18min

Summer Explained: The Science, History, and Traditions of the Warmest Season

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!In this episode of pplpod, we explore summer, the season most closely associated with sunshine, ...

7 Marras 18min

Sir Patrick Stewart: From Shakespeare to Star Trek, the Life and Legacy of a Legend

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!In this episode of pplpod, we explore the extraordinary life of Sir Patrick Stewart, the acclaim...

7 Marras 49min

Larry David: The Genius of Social Awkwardness, Seinfeld, and Curb Your Enthusiasm

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!In this episode of pplpod, we explore the life and career of Larry David, the comedian, writer, ...

6 Marras 38min

Why Australian Shepherds Aren't From Australia

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!In this episode of pplpod, we explore the history of the Australian Shepherd, an intelligent, en...

5 Marras 45min

Labrador Retriever: From Newfoundland Fishing Dogs to Modern-Day Heroes

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!In this episode of pplpod, we explore the remarkable history of the Labrador Retriever, one of t...

4 Marras 53min

Discovering Ireland: A Journey Through History, Culture, and the Wild Atlantic Way

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!In this episode of pplpod, we explore Ireland through the philosophy of slow travel: go slower, ...

3 Marras 48min

Willie Hutch: An Overnight I'll Be There Lyric and The Mack's Soundtrack

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!William McKinley Hutchins was born in Los Angeles in December 1944 and raised in Dallas, where h...

2 Marras 21min