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The Salem Belle is a historical novel, a tale of vengeance and superstition set against the Salem witchcraft tragedy of 1692. Rejected by the beautiful Mary--"the Salem belle"--the bitter Trellison accuses her of witchcraft, mistakenly thinking himself motivated by religious faith. She is quickly tried and convicted, and her brother James and her fiancé, Walter, must try to rescue the persecuted woman. Engaging in its own right,
The Salem Belle invites renewed interest because it is a critical source for Nathaniel Hawthorne's masterwork,
The Scarlet Letter. Hawthorne transformed three scenes from Wheelwright's novel for his own. In so doing, Hawthorne covertly elaborated his lifelong theme: original sin and the possibility of redemption.
Hawthorne scholar Richard Kopley, who has recovered
The Salem Belle for twenty-first-century literary study, introduces and annotates Wheelwright's novel, providing relevant historical details as well as pertinent details about Wheelwright's life and reading. Kopley also furnishes three appendixes that will facilitate understanding of
The Salem Belle and further analysis of its place in American literary history.
List of contents
"Contents
Acknowledgments
Note on the Text
Introduction by Richard Kopley
The Salem Belle: A Tale of 1692
Appendix A: Publication History of The Salem Belle
Appendix B: Reviews of The Salem Belle
Appendix C: Scholarship on, and Scholarly Mention of, The Salem Belle
Notes
About the author
Ebenezer Wheelwright was born in Newburyport, Massachusetts, in 1800. He spent most of his professional life as a West Indies merchant in Boston.Richard Kopley is Distinguished Professor of English Emeritus at Penn State DuBois.
Summary
A historical novel, first published in 1842, about vengeance mistaken for religious fervor, set against the Salem witchcraft trials of 1692. This novel was a critical source for Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter. Introduced and annotated by Hawthorne scholar Richard Kopley.
