Hannah Whitman Heyde : : The Complete Correspondence / / Hannah Whitman Heyde [1823-1908]; ed. by Maire Mullins.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Rutgers University Press Complete eBook-Package 2022
• VerfasserIn: Whitman Heyde [1823-1908], Hannah,
• HerausgeberIn: Mullins, Maire,
• Place / Publishing House: Lewisburg, PA : : Bucknell University Press, , [2021]; ©2022
• Year of Publication: 2021
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (258 p.) :; 10 b-w images

The correspondence of Hannah Whitman Heyde (1823-1908), younger sister of poet Walt Whitman, provides a rare glimpse into the life of a nineteenth-century woman. Married to well-known Vermont landscape artist Charles Louis Heyde (1820-1892), Hannah documented in letters to her mother, Louisa Van Velsor Whitman (1795-1873), and other family members, her lived experience of ongoing physical and emotional abuse at the hands of her husband. Hannah has long been characterized in biographical and scholarly studies of Whitman’s family as a neurotic and a hypochondriac—a narrative promulgated by Heyde himself—but Walt Whitman carefully preserved his sister’s letters, telling his literary biographer that his intention was to document her plight. Hannah’s complete letters, gathered here for the first time and painstakingly edited and annotated by Maire Mullins, provide an important counternarrative, allowing readers insight into the life of a real nineteenth-century woman, sister, and wife to famous men, who endured and eventually survived domestic violence.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Illustrations -- Preface and Acknowledgments -- Abbreviations -- Whitman Family Genealogy -- Introduction -- The Complete Correspondence -- 1. 1852–1853: Letters 1–3 “I am afraid you will be plagued to read this. . . .” -- 2. 1855: Letters 4–9 “I have more to regret than any of you. . . .” -- 3. 1856: Letters 10–19 “I hope I shall not die in a hotel. . . .” -- 4. 1858–1861: Letters 20–27 “I am afraid I have done wrong in telling you. . . .” -- 5. 1862–1865: Letters 28–37 “Have you heard from George -- 6. 1866–1868: Letters 38–42 “. . . this is only a line. . . .” -- 7. 1872–1873: Letters 43–51 “. . . try to not greive. . . .” -- 8. 1879–1892: Letters 52–62 “. . . I only wish I could do something for you. . . .” -- 9. 1905: Letter 63 “the birth place of my brother Walt Whitman” -- Appendix A: Biographical Sketches of the Whitman Family -- Appendix B: Obituary of Hannah Whitman Heyde -- Appendix C: Letters from Hannah Whitman Heyde -- Bibliography -- Index -- About the Editor and Author