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Sara Orne Jewett: Maine Author

© Linda M. Orlando

In previous months, we have explored Maine authors like Kenneth Roberts and Mary Ellen Chase. Well, one of Chase's contemporaries, and a woman ahead of her time, was Sara Orne Jewett. Like many of the other inspirational women of her time, Jewett did not resign herself to the traditional female role of her era. Instead, she had aspirations to become a physician-to learn and explore-to achieve success through more than just marriage and motherhood.

Theodora Sarah Orne Jewett was one of the original female authors of Maine. She was born in South Berwick, Maine, in 1849 to Caroline and Theodore Jewett, a physician. She spent a lot of her childhood going on medical calls with her father and she fully intended to become a physician. But poor health forced her to put this dream aside. However, Jewett did use her experience in one of her novels, A Country Doctor, which was a novel about a young woman who chose to become a physician rather than marry and have children.

A considerable amount of Jewett's life was spent studying and writing about relationships between women. She was one of the primary influences of several Maine writers, like Mary Ellen Chase. She was also inspired by many female authors, like Harriet Beecher Stowe. In addition, Jewett had a significant relationship with Anne Fields, widow of publisher, James T. Fields, part of publishing giant Ticknor & Fields, today known as Houghton-Mifflin.

Jewett's specialty, however, was the short narrative, several of which are available on the internet: In Dark New England Days (1890), Decoration Day (1892), A Dunnet Shepherdess (1899), The Foreigner (1899), The Gloucester Mother(1908), The Landscape Chamber (1887), and From A Mournful Villager(1881).

One of Jewett's most well-known works is The Country of the Pointed Firs, featured the people of Maine-residents of many of the small villages that she visited with her father. Jewett loved Maine-the people, the lifestyle, the environment-of Maine and her strong female characters portrayed the independent Maine women she encountered during her lifetime.

In 1901, Bowdoin College conferred on Jewett an honorary doctorate in literature. Jewett was the first woman to receive this award.

In 1902, Jewett had a carriage accident, which resulted in a concussion and neck injury, which ended her writing career. This injury resulted in memory loss, loss of concentration, and dizziness, which cause was never diagnosed. Eight years later, in 1909, Jewett died of a stroke in the house where she was born.

The copyright of the article Sara Orne Jewett: Maine Author in Maine is owned by Linda M. Orlando. Permission to republish Sara Orne Jewett: Maine Author in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.