Aunt Phillis's Cabin

Aunt Phillis's Cabin; or, Southern Life As It Is

Title page of the 1852 edition
Author Mary Henderson Eastman
Country United States
Language English
Genre Plantation literature
Social novel
Publisher Lippincott, Grambo & Co.
Publication date
1852
Media type Print
Pages c.300 pp (May change depending on the publisher and the size of the text)

Aunt Phillis's Cabin; or, Southern Life As It Is by Mary Henderson Eastman is a plantation fiction novel, and is perhaps the most read anti-Tom novel in American literature. It was published by Lippincott, Grambo & Co. of Philadelphia in 1852 as a response to Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin, published earlier that year. The novel sold 20,000-30,000 copies, making it a strong commercial success and bestseller. Based on her growing up in Warrenton, Virginia of an elite planter family, Eastman portrays plantation owners and slaves as mutually respectful, kind, and happy beings.

Overview

Published in 1852, Aunt Phillis's Cabin contains contrasts and comparisons to the anti-slavery novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe, which was published earlier that year. It serves as an antithesis; Eastman's novel deliberately referred to the situation in Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin, where plantation owners abuse their repressed, disloyal slaves. Eastman portrays white plantation owners who behave benignly toward their slaves. Eastman also uses quotes from various sources including Uncle Tom's Cabin itself to explain that slavery is a natural institution, and essential to life.[1] Like other novels of the genre, it contains much dialogue between masters and slaves, in which she portrays "the essential happiness of slaves in the South as compared to the inevitable sufferings of free blacks and the working classes in the North," as noted by the scholar Stephen Railton in the website Uncle Tom's Cabin & American Culture.[2]

Plot

The story is set in unnamed rural town in Virginia, which is frequented by several plantation owners living around it. The town relies on trade from the cotton plantations for its economy. Understanding this, the plantation owners, in contrast to their neighbors in surrounding towns, have adopted a benign approach towards their slaves to keep them peaceful and assure the safety of the town. Several characters in and around the town are introduced throughout the story, demonstrating how this process works and the delicate balance of such a process in action.

Characters

Reception

Although obscure today, the novel remains one of the most-read examples of the anti-Tom genre. Between 20,000 and 30,000 copies of Aunt Phillis's Cabin were sold upon its initial release in 1852.[3] The novel was the most commercially successful of the anti-Tom genre until the publication of The Lofty and the Lowly, or Good in All and None All Good in 1853, which sold 8,000 copies within the first weeks of publication.[4]

Publication history

Aunt Phillis's Cabin was released in 1852 the same year that Uncle Tom's Cabin appeared in book form by Lippincott, Grambo & Co. of Philadelphia (better known as J. B. Lippincott & Co.) As a major publishing house, the company released other anti-Tom novels, including Antifanaticism: A Tale of the South by Martha Haines Butt (1853),[5] and Mr. Frank, the Underground Mail-Agent by Vidi (1853).[5]

Today Eastman's novel is in the public domain; it has been reprinted in the modern day by several publishers, including The Echo Library,[6] Kessinger Publishing,[7] and Tutis Digital Publishing.[8] It is also available through Project Gutenberg.

In other works

References

  1. M.H. Eastman, Preface to Aunt Phillis's Cabin (1852)
  2. Pro-Slavery Novels: "Aunt Phillis' Cabin", Uncle Tom's Cabin & American Culture, University of Virginia, 1998-2009, accessed 23 February 2011
  3. "Mary Henderson Eastman", Pro-Slavery Novels, University of Virginia
  4. "McIntosh", Pro-Slavery Novels, University of Virginia
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 Stephen Railton, "Anti Uncle Tom Novels", Pro-Slavery Novels, Uncle Tom's Cabin & American Culture, University of Virginia, 1998-2009, accessed 23 February 2011
  6. Aunt Phillis's Cabin
  7. Aunt Phillis's Cabin
  8. Aunt Phillis's Cabin
  9. Weld, Theodore Dwight, The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition, 2001–2005. Retrieved May 15, 2007.
  10. Preface of Aunt Phillis's Cabin - M.H. Eastman (1852)
  11. "Frank Freeman's Barber Shop", Pro-slavery Novels, Uncle Tom's Cabin & American Culture website, University of Virginia
  12. http://www.iath.virginia.edu/utc/proslav/pagehp.html "Uncle Robin and Runaway Tom"], Pro-slavery Novels, Uncle Tom's Cabin & American Culture, University of Virginia

External links

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