Antifanaticism: A Tale of the South

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Antifanaticism: A Tale of the South
Author Martha Haines Butt
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Genre Plantation literature
PublisherLippincott, Grambo & Co
Publication date
 1853
Media typePrint (Hardcover & Paperback) & E-book
Pagesc.300 pp (May change depending on the publisher and the size of the text)

Antifanaticism: A Tale of the South is an 1853 plantation fiction novel by Martha Haines Butt. [1]

This article presents lists of the literary events and publications in 1853.

Anti-Tom literature

Anti-Tom literature refers to the 19th century pro-slavery novels and other literary works written in response to Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin. Also called plantation literature, these writings were generally written by authors from the Southern United States. Books in the genre attempted to show either that slavery was beneficial to African Americans or that the evils of slavery as depicted in Stowe's book were overblown and incorrect.

Contents

Overview

Antifanaticism is one of several examples of the plantation literature genre that appeared in reaction to the anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe, which had been criticised as inaccurately depicting slaveholders and slavery in general. [2]

<i>Uncle Toms Cabin</i> anti-slavery novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe

Uncle Tom's Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly, is an anti-slavery novel by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe. Published in 1852, the novel had a profound effect on attitudes toward African Americans and slavery in the U.S. and is said to have "helped lay the groundwork for the Civil War".

Harriet Beecher Stowe American abolitionist and author

Harriet Elisabeth Beecher Stowe was an American abolitionist and author. She came from the Beecher family, a famous religious family, and is best known for her novel Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852), which depicts the harsh conditions for enslaved African Americans. The book reached millions as a novel and play, and became influential in the United States and Great Britain, energizing anti-slavery forces in the American North, while provoking widespread anger in the South. Stowe wrote 30 books, including novels, three travel memoirs, and collections of articles and letters. She was influential for both her writings and her public stances and debates on social issues of the day.

Authors from the Southern United States sought to rectify this through their own series of pro-slavery novels. Examples of these include: Aunt Phillis's Cabin (1852), Uncle Robin, in His Cabin in Virginia, and Tom Without One in Boston (1853) and The Planter's Northern Bride (1854).

Southern United States Cultural region of the United States

The southern United States, also known as the American South, Dixie, Dixieland, or simply the South, is a region of the United States of America. It is located between the Atlantic Ocean and the western United States, with the midwestern United States and northeastern United States to its north and the Gulf of Mexico and Mexico to its south.

<i>Aunt Philliss Cabin</i> book by Mary Eastman

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 Harriet Beecher 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.

Uncle Robin, in His Cabin in Virginia, and Tom Without One in Boston is an 1853 novel written by J.W. Page and released by J. W. Randolph Publishers of Richmond, Virginia.

Butt explains in her novel that Antifanaticism is her first novel, [3] and invites Stowe herself to the south to see that the events of the book, though fictional, are based on reality rather than fiction, which she accuses Stowe of doing in the creation of Uncle Tom's Cabin .

Title

The term Antifanaticism in the book's title is a neologism coined by Butt, appending the term Fanaticism with Anti- (from the Greek αντί, meaning "against") to mean "against Fanaticism" (i.e. Abolitionism).

A neologism describes a relatively recent or isolated term, word, or phrase that may be in the process of entering common use, but that has not yet been fully accepted into mainstream language. Neologisms are often driven by changes in culture and technology, and may be directly attributable to a specific person, publication, period, or event. In the process of language formation, neologisms are more mature than protologisms.

Fanaticism

Fanaticism is a belief or behavior involving uncritical zeal or with an obsessive enthusiasm. Philosopher George Santayana defines fanaticism as "redoubling your effort when you have forgotten your aim". The fanatic displays very strict standards and little tolerance for contrary ideas or opinions.

Abolitionism in the United States Movement to end slavery in the United States

Abolitionism in the United States was the movement before and during the American Civil War to end slavery in the United States. In the Americas and western Europe, abolitionism was a movement to end the Atlantic slave trade and set slaves free. In the 17th century, enlightenment thinkers condemned slavery on humanistic grounds and English Quakers and some Evangelical denominations condemned slavery as un-Christian. At that time, most slaves were Africans, but thousands of Native Americans were also enslaved. In the 18th century, as many as six million Africans were transported to the Americas as slaves, at least a third of them on British ships to North America. The colony of Georgia originally abolished slavery within its territory, and thereafter, abolition was part of the message of the First Great Awakening of the 1730s and 1740s in the Thirteen Colonies.

Plot

The story takes place somewhere in Virginia, and depicts a group of white plantation owners who put charity towards their black slaves before the harvesting and selling of the cotton on their own plantations, as well as successfully converting several troublesome abolitionists into friendly socialites through a process referred to throughout the novel as "Southern hospitality".

Virginia State of the United States of America

Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States located between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" due to its status as the first English colonial possession established in mainland North America and "Mother of Presidents" because eight U.S. presidents were born there, more than any other state. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are shaped by the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Chesapeake Bay, which provide habitat for much of its flora and fauna. The capital of the Commonwealth is Richmond; Virginia Beach is the most populous city, and Fairfax County is the most populous political subdivision. The Commonwealth's estimated population as of 2017 is over 8.4 million.

Southern hospitality is a phrase used in American English to describe the stereotype of residents of the Southern United States as particularly warm, sweet, and welcoming to visitors to their homes, or to the South in general. The term has engendered some controversy due to the connection of related practices to the culture of slavery, and its continued use during periods of both overt and covert racism, and other forms of prejudice.

Publication history

Antifanaticism was first published in 1853 by Lippincott, Grambo & Co, who had previously published the anti-Tom novel Aunt Phillis's Cabin by Mary Henderson Eastman in the previous year, [4] and would go on to publish Mr. Frank, the Underground Mail-Agent alongside Antifanaticism. [5]

Reception

Elizabeth R. Varon later criticized the book's writing in her 1998 book We Mean to Be Counted, commenting that Butt had neither the skill nor the ambiguity of Eastman's Aunt Phillis's Cabin. [6]

Related Research Articles

<i>A Key to Uncle Toms Cabin</i> book by Harriet Beecher Stowe

A Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin is a book by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe. It was published to document the veracity of the depiction of slavery in Stowe's anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852). First published in 1853 by Jewett, Proctor & Worthington, the book also provides insights into Stowe's own views on slavery.

Seth and Mary Eastman American husband-and-wife duo authors on Native American life (illustrator and writer)

Seth Eastman and his second wife Mary Henderson Eastman were instrumental in recording Native American life. Eastman was an artist and West Point graduate who served in the US Army, first as a mapmaker and illustrator. He had two tours at Fort Snelling, Minnesota Territory; during the second, extended tour he was commanding officer of the fort. During these years, he painted many studies of Native American life. He was notable for the quality of his hundreds of illustrations for Henry Rowe Schoolcraft's six-volume study on History of Indian Tribes of the United States (1851–1857), commissioned by the US Congress. From their time at Fort Snelling, Mary Henderson Eastman wrote a book about Dakota Sioux life and culture, which Seth Eastman illustrated. In 1838, he was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Honorary Academician.

<i>The Planters Northern Bride</i> book by Caroline Lee Hentz

The Planter's Northern Bride is an 1854 novel written by Caroline Lee Hentz, in response to the publication of Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe in 1852.

Tom show

Tom show is a general term for any play or musical based on the 1852 novel Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe. The novel attempts to depict the harsh reality of slavery. Due to the weak copyright laws at the time, a number of unauthorized plays based on the novel were staged for decades, many of them mocking the novel's strong characters and social message, and leading to the pejorative term "Uncle Tom".

<i>Little Eva: The Flower of the South</i>

Little Eva: The Flower of the South is an 1853 children's novel written by Philip J. Cozans.

White Acre vs. Black Acre is an 1856 plantation fiction novel written by William M. Burwell.

<i>The Black Gauntlet: A Tale of Plantation Life in South Carolina</i>

The Black Gauntlet: A Tale of Plantation Life in South Carolina is an anti-Tom novel written in 1860 by Mary Howard Schoolcraft, published under her married name of Mrs. Henry Rowe Schoolcraft.

Life at the South; or, "Uncle Tom's Cabin" As It Is is an 1852 plantation fiction novel written by William L.G. Smith.

The North and the South; or, Slavery and Its Contrasts is an 1852 plantation fiction novel by Caroline Rush, and among the first examples of the genre, alongside others such as Aunt Phillis's Cabin by Mary Henderson Eastman and Life at the South; or, "Uncle Tom's Cabin" As It Is by W.L.G. Smith, both of which were also released in 1852.

Frank Freeman's Barber Shop is an 1852 plantation fiction novel written by Baynard Rush Hall.

<i>The Cabin and Parlor; or, Slaves and Masters</i> book by Charles Jacobs Peterson

The Cabin and Parlor; or, Slaves and Masters is an 1852 novel written by Charles Jacobs Peterson under the pseudonym of J. Thornton Randolph.

The Lofty and the Lowly, or Good in All and None All Good is a novel by Maria Jane McIntosh published by D. Appleton & Company in 1853. It was one of many anti-Tom novels published in response to Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin. The story is set is Georgia and tells of a plantation owner's efforts to avoid bankruptcy with the help of his loyal slave Daddy Cato. Their efforts are challenged by a northern usurer and devious northern capitalists. The book sold well across the United States upon release, making it one of the most successful anti-Tom novels in the middle 19th century.

<i>Mr. Frank, the Underground Mail-Agent</i> book by anonymus

Mr. Frank, the Underground Mail-Agent is an 1853 parody novel written by an unknown author credited as "Vidi".

Tit for Tat is an 1856 novel written anonymously by "A Lady of New Orleans".

The Ebony Idol is a plantation literature novel first published in 1860 and written by G.M. Flanders.

"Uncle Tom's Cabin" Contrasted with Buckingham Hall, the Planter's Home is an 1852 novel by Robert Criswell, combining elements of Anti-Tom literature and romantic fiction.

References

  1. ↑ Larson, Kerry (2008). Imagining Equality in Nineteenth-Century American Literature. Cambridge University Press. ISBN   052189803X . Retrieved 15 July 2015.
  2. ↑ van Zelm, Antoinette G. "Martha Haines Butt (1833–1871)". Encyclopedia Virginia. Retrieved 15 July 2015.
  3. ↑ Concluding Remarks of Antifanaticism - M.H. Butt (1853)
  4. ↑ Eastman, Mary Henderson. "Aunt Phillis's Cabin". University of Virginia. Retrieved 15 July 2015.
  5. ↑ "The Underground Mail-Agent". University of Virginia. Retrieved 15 July 2015.
  6. ↑ Varon, Elizabeth R. (1998). We Mean to Be Counted: White Women and Politics in Antebellum Virginia. The University of North Carolina Press. ISBN   0807823902 . Retrieved 15 July 2015.
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