Play Days

Sarah Orne Jewett (1849 - 1909) was an American novelist, short story writer and poet, best known for her local color works set along or near the southern seacoast of Maine. Jewett is recognized as an important practitioner of American literary regionalism. She published her first important story in the Atlantic Monthly at age 19 and her reputation grew throughout the 1870s and 1880s. Her literary importance arises from her careful, if subdued, vignettes of country life that reflect a contemporary interest in local color rather than plot. Jewett possessed a keen descriptive gift. Jewett made her reputation with the novella The Country of the Pointed Firs (1896). A Country Doctor (1884), a novel reflecting her father and her early ambitions for a medical career and A White Heron (1886), a collection of short stories are among her finest work. Some of Jewett's poetry was collected in Verses (1916) and she also wrote three children's books. Willa Cather described Jewett as a significant influence on her development as a writer and "feminist critics have since championed her writing for its rich account of women's lives and voices."