Tabitha Gilman Tenney
Encyclopedia
Tabitha Gilman Tenney was an early American author from Exeter, New Hampshire
. Her novel Female Quixotism first appeared in 1801. She married Samuel Tenney
, a politician.
Literary historian F. L. Patee has described Tabitha Tenney's Female Quixotism (1801) as the most popular novel written in America prior to the publication of Uncle Tom's Cabin
(1852). Female Quixotism went through at least five editions and was still in print when Harriet Beecher Stowe
wrote her landmark book.
Samuel and Tabitha Tenney had no children.
Upon her 1837 death in Exeter, she was buried at the Winter Street Burial Ground.
Exeter, New Hampshire
Exeter is a town in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. The town's population was 14,306 at the 2010 census. Exeter was the county seat until 1997, when county offices were moved to neighboring Brentwood...
. Her novel Female Quixotism first appeared in 1801. She married Samuel Tenney
Samuel Tenney
Samuel Tenney was a United States Representative from New Hampshire. Born in Byfield, Massachusetts, he attended Dummer Academy there and graduated from Harvard College in 1772. He taught school at Andover and studied medicine, beginning practice in Exeter, New Hampshire. He was a surgeon in the...
, a politician.
Literary historian F. L. Patee has described Tabitha Tenney's Female Quixotism (1801) as the most popular novel written in America prior to the publication of Uncle Tom's Cabin
Uncle Tom's Cabin
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 "helped lay the groundwork for the Civil War", according to Will Kaufman....
(1852). Female Quixotism went through at least five editions and was still in print when Harriet Beecher Stowe
Harriet Beecher Stowe
Harriet Beecher Stowe was an American abolitionist and author. Her novel Uncle Tom's Cabin was a depiction of life for African-Americans under slavery; it reached millions as a novel and play, and became influential in the United States and United Kingdom...
wrote her landmark book.
Samuel and Tabitha Tenney had no children.
Upon her 1837 death in Exeter, she was buried at the Winter Street Burial Ground.
By Tenney
- New Pleasing Instructor
- Tabitha Tenney. Female quixotism: exhibited in the romantic opinions and extravagant adventures of Dorcasina Sheldon.
- Boston: Printed by I. Thomas and E.T. Andrews, 1801.
- Boston: J. P. Peaslee, 1825. Google books v.1
About Tenney
- "Tabitha Tenney" in: Evert Augustus Duyckinck, George Long Duyckinck. Cyclopaedia of American literature. NY: C. Scribner, 1856. Google books
- Cynthia J. Miecznikowski. The Parodic Mode and the Patriarchal Imperative: Reading the Female Reader(s) in Tabitha Tenney's "Female Quixotism". Early American Literature, Vol. 25, No. 1 (1990), pp. 34-45
- Linda Frost. The Body Politic in Tabitha Tenney's "Female Quixotism". Early American Literature, Vol. 32, No. 2 (1997), pp. 113-134
External links
- WorldCat. Tabitha Tenney
- Open Library. Female Quixotism