>> today we are very pleased to have jane turner with this, who is discussing her new biography. he was well known throughout america as the author of a scandalous novel and is a beauty who had married the air to -- heir to the astor family. years earlier, she had burst

from the literary scene with a short story in the atlantic monthly, a highly regarded illustrated monthly. in today's talk, jane will explore how she went from anonymity to a household name. she is a professor emeritus of history at george mason university, especially -- specializing in 19th-century america and southern women. her essays and articles have appeared in numerous journals, including the journal of southern history, the american journal of legal history, southern culture, and the american quarterly. in 2017 and 2018, she served as president of the american historical association. she is the author of several books including "north carolina planters and their children

1800-1860" and "the reconstruction of southern womanhood," and most recently the subject of today's talk, "the princess of albemarle, a melie rives." please welcome jane turner sensor -- censer. jane: thank you for that lovely introduction. it is a pleasure to be in richmond, the city where amelie rives was born almost 160 years ago, and i/o a special thanks to the museum for the invitation, and to the valentine museum, which has allowed me to use so many of the beautiful pictures of rives you will see here today and in my book. in 1891, article referred to her as "the most noted of the

younger writers of not only the south but of america." only 28 years old, rives had already been publishing for five years. most readers would have immediately recognized her name. some of -- would have thought of her scandalous bestseller, "the quicker the dead," and others would have pointed to her short stories. others would have anecdotes about her beauty and headstrong behavior. as the daughter of a railroad executive and granddaughter of u.s. senator from virginia, rives had a privileged life. she married two times, one a wealthy new yorker, the second a russian prince, and she also became the prolific author of over 25 books, as well as short stories and essays. her experiences provide insight into a changing world for women,

especially southern female authors. her first interactions with editors proved particularly enlightening about how the gendered code of conduct of the day was changing. these interchanges highlighted the difficulties women encountered in literary magazines, even as such journals increasingly sought white southerners' stories as part of sectional reconciliation. for many decades, southern white women had been authoring books -- generally novels focused on courtship and marriage, aimed at a female audience. as the civil war receded, some women attempted to scale more exalted heights of northern publishing. rives' attempts there yield insights into barriers and opportunities. in the 1870's, white southern

writers increase their visibility by participating in the local color movement, which featured regional dialects. among southerners, joel chandler harris's uncle remus stories led the way, and mary murphy began publishing her appalachian stories in the 1870's. thomas nelson page popularize the plantation romance set in the antebellum civil war period. americans seemed to have found simpler lives in close relationships on the plantation. magazines, because of their growing readership, presented a new, lucrative pathway into a literary career. "the atlantic" commanded great respect. "harper's monthly" was the best-selling magazine of the day. both faced competition from the illustrated magazine, as well as

others like appleton's and lippincott. emily reeves -- amelie rives claimed she had an almost accidental entrance into publishing. three years after her first story appeared, she said, "i wrote that into evenings, sitting up in bed. i wrote it because i like to write and because i had the story in my mind. one day a nice boy of who we were very fond was visiting at the house and found that story in the library. nothing would do but he must take it back to boston when he went." he then submitted it to the atlantic monthly. these basic facts, while correct, indicated nothing of the deliberate campaign that amelie rives had waged to break into print. in fact, before she was

"discovered," rives had tried to publish a novel. in 1884, as a 21-year-old, she submitted a manuscript entitled "civilization" to the formidable boston publisher hoffman mifflin . this was a bold move for an unpublished author, and especially a young southern lady. perhaps predictably from an unsolicited manuscript, it was rejected. reeves wrote the publishers, "i thank you very much for having read my story, civilization, and am very sorry to have given you so much trouble for nothing. of course i am disappointed, but still convinced that you know much better than i could the worth of the story." defending her decision to submit her manuscript, amelie told the

publishing house, "i never wrote a novel before," and she added that she wanted to aid her close friend moody pleasant, who suffered from a disfiguring cleft palate, relying on the code of ladylike conduct as justification. she ended her letter, "i tell you this in order that you may not think me very presumptuous if i try again." nevertheless, rives found it very difficult to remain sweetly stoic with rejection. when the publisher's representative mentioned grammatical errors in her rives, -- in her novel, rives disclaimed authorship. she said "i must tell you that the young lisman who really wrote "civilization -- the young englishman who really wrote

civilization has permitted me to tell you i did not really write it. i do scribble may someday send you something of mine, but i write only very stupid things on the order of essays." this first unsuccessful attempt at publishing apparently led rives to seek alternative pathways. the dreary historians have suggested that the most successful 19th-century novelist relied on sponsorship, a truth that ameli in -- amelie intuitively grasped. she needed a sponsor. difficult for a southern woman, but she had two friends interested in her work who possessed a necessary connection. both were young unmarried men and she resorted to flotation and flattery to peak -- pique their interest. one possible sponsor was already in rives' life.

for almost nine months, she had been exchanging letters with virginia author thomas nelson page, a distant cousin 10 years older than she. these letters were not an attempt to win paige's heart, what part of a careful campaign that aimed for literary companionship and sponsorship. the letters indicate a young woman trying to fascinate by alternating between sensuality and intellectuality, neither of which were supposed to be part of the southern belle's repertoire. possibly also viewing page as a literary soulmate, rives hoped for praise, and notice, and that he would bring her writing to national publishers. when thomas nelson page and amelie rives began to correspond, he was practicing law here in richmond. more conservative than she, he also took a more traditional view of a woman's place.

they shared common piedmont, virginia ancestors and literary leanings. both were fascinated by the ancient world, loved scottish dialect and english heritage stories. clearly important to rives were links to the literary world. in the spring of 1884, the story that vaulted page to national fame had been accepted by century magazine. rives, in her first reply to page, blended mystery, exoticism, and drama. with seeming frankness, she declared that his letter had been fascinating. when he suggested she was a flirt, she pictured herself as a dangerous siren. "as for flirting, dear cos, you

say it is in my nature, and what will you say when i tell you frankly yes? it is there very strongly and i'm afraid very indelibly. what will you say again when i tell you i do not flirt? it is true, quite true," and she boasted she had recently foregone a conquest. as a belle who signaled her general availability, amelie assured page he held a special place in her regard. "do you understand i speak to you as i would too few people, man or woman? and you must not laugh at me," she chided. "you do not know how anxious i am to see your story about marsh chan. i find i am thinking of you through the long night. remember, you told me of it last summer." she claimed to hate modern

fiction by henry james, and talked paige's work. "i would rather read something you had written from your heart then even that undeniably beautiful book the portrait of a lady." with sensuous imagery, she predicted page's literary fame. "i am sure you will be one of the famous writers, as i am of the moan of wind down my chimney. that is the most indisputable fact, as you yourself would say. can you see the lilette flames from the fresh oakwood flitting around like little salamanders?" she later consoled page for an unfavorable review by comparing him to shakespeare. the remainder of rives' letter took a common approach. in entertaining page, she showed

her skill at various literary genres and alluded to her wide reading. as the letters end, she returns to the theme of attraction. "i wish with all my heart to see you, to know you better, and to love you more, but how is one to behave when i in fact feel you are all the time thinking i am trying to flirt with you and to fascinate not your true friendship, not your honest love, but that berserk which lurks in every newfoundland dog and which i am sure is part and parcel of every man alive." here she combines a knowledge of novelist charles kingsley's book about the warrior ethic among anglo-saxons with a comparison of plus to love -- a difference that page, who preferred women firmly on the pedestal, probably did not wish to consider. when page asked rives in mid

march 1984 to tell about herself, she declared an utter lack of self-knowledge. "i fear less of myself than i know of greek, and of that i know only there is a beginning and an end, which to our alpha and omega. the end with me is not yet." using "end" as a segue, she launched into a disquisition on marriage. "they say marriage is the end with women. i hope not. i do not want to be married myself, and yet -- and yet how lonely are the old maids." she then proffered a cameo of her spinster aunt. "my aunt ella reeves is a living warning to me. she is 48. she is very yellow. she wears pale brown stockings that wrinkle, and cloth slippers that are out at the toes.

she is very good and unbearably disagreeable. she eats ducks and plays on a melodian for recreation." rives pointedly ended the portrait, "i do not want a husband, but i think a melodia is equally undesirable." rives intentionally raised contradictions. her doctors had warned that writing was affecting her health. "everyone comes to see me. my room is a little court in a big, gilded wicker chair runabout with blue-ribbon's." while being delicate was quite ladylike, rives also proclaimed her vibrancy and emphasized her body in a distinctly unladylike way, celebrating her driving

herself in a first carriage ride since her illness. she wrote "the air was like wine and had a really vileness -- v inous effect on me. i shouted like a big boy conscious of his big boydom. the wind blew all my curls straight up on and, and so -- on end, and so happy was i that i forgot to be vain and pull them back into order. -- order." rives took a reference as an opportunity to joke about her own love of bathing. "i am a very diogenes and live in my tub." as if the image of her nude body in a bathtub was not transgressive enough, she closed the paragraph with a width of religious heterodoxy.

"the cleanliness being next to godliness, and i'm being near heaven through that, means that any other do persevere through day-to-day." rives, as she advertised her fascination, so this relationship as a chance for intellectual exchange as literary sponsorship. even as her first letters to page showed off her wide reading and ability to write in different dialects and genres, she very slowly pulled him into her world of writing. only in her third letter did she mention her poetry. "i send you some jewels i made a year ago. i am a lazy wench and these being already copied, i send them to you." by the summer of 1884, amelie began her literary aspirations. in july, she confided "i too

have written a novel this summer, but i fear not what one would look for in a girl. being made of so muscular an order that even men would have to chew to digested." she then assured page, "do not be thinking that it smacks of immorality. not so, i swear." she revealed a little more. by the spring of 1885, page had begun to court a wealthy woman and his friendship with amelie became merely literary. that fall, after the century magazine accepted his story, page showed some of amelie's works to his editor. she also secured another male friend, william sigourney otis,

to help toward publication. will otis was that nice boston boy who showed her story to the editor of atlantic monthly. in 1885, he was a 28-year-old lawyer from a prominent family who had graduated from harvard college and harvard law school. contemporaries considered will a strikingly handsome man, noted for his geniality, wit, and readiness with repartee, athletic and active he was a founding editor of "the harvard lampoon." will otis and amelie rives may even have been engaged. that was the impression she gave in october 1880i've when she told -- 1885 when she told rives "it is all off between will and myself and i feel as we as air." otis scored the first success for rives, who told about it in

late october 1885. will took a short story to houghton mifflin, and readers for the atlantic monthly got hold of it. i can't pretend to tell you all the nice things he said. he thinks he is a man and insisted on my coming at once boston. when will told him that would be impossible, he laughed and asked if i were in prison. rives was ecstatic, marveling "just to think the first short story i ever wrote coming out in the atlantic." thomas bailey eldridge was not just a reader. he was editor at the magazine, renowned for its fiction. although his first reaction to rives' story was wildly

enthusiastic and he said he wants every scrap i ever wrote. she gratefully gushed to aldri ch, "i will do whatever you think best with regard to it and anything else i ever write." rives had just achieved publication with a story set in 16th century england. here she different from most southern writers, who wrote about the south. rives wrote the story in an era entranced by stories of chivalric heroes. hers was more pointed toward the national rather than a southern audience. while the stories featured romance, the resourcefulness and daring of its heroines foreshadowed rives' later writing. over the next few months, rives

pelted aldrich with manuscripts as she sought to make the editor her literary guide. she pledged her loyalty. "you shall have the very first links of my brain and heart, and i will write for no one else in the world if you want me to write for you." the next few stories that rives sent alrich did not please him. at least two were eventually published and show she was writing historical fiction in different locales. getting to worry in december that aldrich merely wanted her to replicate "a brother to dragons," amelie complained "i am going to begin on a sister to dragons, followed by a brother-in-law to dragons, and these will be the progenitor of a race of little nephews, nieces, and grandchildren to dragons, which shall all be sent in time. please forgive me if i have been at all impertinent.

i would not be that for the world." despite her exasperation, rives pleaded for aldrich's approval at the same time she begged for editorial advice. she begged him to visit and suddenly indicated her elite jimmy back by describing her home as "one of the very few old southern homesteads which has remained in the same family for 200 years." she excused her unconventional requests on the grounds of gratitude. "i think i want to wait on you a little and fetch things for you, and to know you and to learn the things you like, and to earn your approval and the right ear friendship. -- to your friendship. it isn't too much, is it?" in truth, it seems to have been far too much for the new england editor, who labeled her letters

"singular correspondent." irritated by this author, who was not the young man he expected, aldrich found her responses to questions of whether the article should be signed with initials or a nom de plume to be the last straw. even if amelie exulted over her story's acceptance, she received other good news. richard watson gilder, editor at the century, which to publish a story that page had shown him. suddenly amelie was dealing with proxies with prestigious publishers. for a young woman of 22, this was a heady new experience. in ladylike fashion, rives had to use go-betweens to gain acceptance of her writing. yet how far she should go in publicizing her authorship was a problem. although most southern female authors in 1885 published under

pen names, amelie first told aldrich "you may also use my name, just as you please. i am perfectly willing to submit everything to your judgment." yet rives responded to page's news about her acceptance by begging him not to reveal her name to the century's editor. "i am beginning to get frightfully shy and alarmed and feel like taking my head in the sand of 20 noms de plume lichen ostrich. i would rather not." the question of whether rives would publish under her own name occurred repeatedly and showed how her ambitions conflicted with proper behavior of southern women. in november, she suggested a pen

name. by early december, she asked aldrich just to print the story without any name, and later that month consider using her initials. the entire matter took a bizarre twist in late january 1886. both aldrich and the other editor received letters supposedly from rives that she would publish under her own name. "publish my name, and i do not want you to think it is strange that i have asked you not to publish my name after my short stories and whatever of mine you have." the letters to page said "my father has asked me to publish my name in the injury -- the century."

aldrich believed this letter wasn't -- was evidence rives had corresponded with another editor. she called the letter a hope. she said, there are only two people with handwriting identical to mine. one is my sister and one is perhaps the only enemy i have. amelie self righteously asserted "i have had no correspondence with mr. gilder. the verses were sent him by mr. page, my cousin." at the same time, rives sent a distraught note to paige to stop the publication of her name in the century. she said, "i do not wish my name published. i have said so over and over again. i wouldn't have aldrich to think me so childish and doubledealing for anything in the world." later that month, rives declared that the letter page had received was a perfect forgery.

was someone forging letters or did rives simply pretend? one allegedly forged letter that survives presents some stylistic differences and appears slightly more rounded in script than most of amelie's. if these letters were fraudulent, the most likely culprit was younger sister gertrude who had similar handwriting and would have known about the acceptance of the story and poems. but perhaps amelie wrote the letters and denied it. her vacillation on the subject of publishing under the name shows awareness that numerous family members and friends would disapprove. indeed, her late grandmother, who had died four years earlier, may have influenced amelie's literary aspirations, as well as her beliefs about how we 80 should appear in public. -- how a lady should.

publish. in the 1840's, judith had published a book under a pseudonym "a lady of virginia." grandmother rives, in an unpublished autobiography, also commented on forms of female self presentation and criticize the hoyt in style -- hoyden style and the blue stocking and eccentric. amelie must've understood her provocative letters and expressive conduct fell firmly within her grandmother's definition of a hoyden. her final comment after the alleged perjury fell back on proper behavior. "if you have ever known me, you will believe me when i say that as a lady i am incapable of conduct that is so unladylike." despite these brave words, amelie had already wandered far

from the ladylike conduct expected in her grandmother. amelie also showed in these early letters a concern with vendor's relation to publication, her disavowal of her early novel asserted a young englishman had written it. she also had told page she wanted a poem which she that twitch -- she wanted her poem evaluated as if a man wrote it. she understood editors evaluated differently. rives showed significant worry about propriety and purity. in 1884, after admitting to page that she was something of a flirt, she added her wish to be called a good, true woman. a maiden, most excellent, shining white. this is what i would have, even

then fame, even then honor. she added, when you know me better, you will know how this is my ambition. apparently tiring of rives' style, aldrige suspended approval of two stories. possibly he believed her overly emotional and hysterical. by the time a brother to dragons appeared in print, listing no author, pseudonym, or initials, aldrich and his new author were no longer in contact. in addition to rives, he also published stories from tennessee and mary murphy and african-american author charles w chesnutt. chestnutt's first story was published a year after "a brother to dragons." it featured uncle julius, an

elderly friedman who tell stories of slavery to a white narrator. while thomas nelson page's african-americans pined for the old regime of slavery, uncle julius did not, and introduced whites to a world that involved conger, ghosts -- conjure, ghosts, and cruel owners. aldrich originally assumed the author was a white man. murphy submitted her stories under a male pen name. chestnutt sent in the story under the transom, unannounced and unmediated. after the break with aldrich, rives began to submit stories to richard watson gilder at the century. all went swimmingly that spring of 1886. by mid-march, she was conferring with him over a story, and

suggested modifying its language because "i wrote it very quickly, and i always write." that may, amelie visited the editorial offices, where she received "quite a novation" at their headquarters. at that time, the century had accepted one of amelie's stories and was considering another. yet two months later, gilder no longer wanted rives' writing. in july, rives had a novella, "virginia of virginia," rejected by gilder. some believe it is the best of her early writing. it is the story about an ill starred relationship between eight tenant farmer's daughter, virginia, and in englishman who bought a plantation in the war-ravaged state.

the people speak in dialect, and the african-americans, while warmhearted, speak in malaprop is him. common whites and the englishman show racism, yet the heroin rises above her impoverished origins to show kindness that illuminates the story. gilder seems to have rejected rives' story because he believed himself a guardian of morality. according to a literary historian, he excluded from his family magazines whatever he thought would offend the mothers of the nation or corrupt their daughters. the headstrong nature of rives' heroine, who is passionately attracted to an upper-class englishman, probably appeared unseemly to gilder. gilder was an active editor who pushed authors to remove passages that offended him. it suggests his objections to

the story was to its general outline rather than a few specific points that could be changed. he may also have disdained rives ' heroine, who overcomes her jealousy and finds atonement and redemption. moreover, the white and black southerners appear poor, uneducated, and disheveled -- for from the inhabitants of harmonious plantations as depicted by writers like thomas elton page. possibly coming gilder believed "virginia of virginia" sentimental and immoral. intriguingly enough, this lack of interest came as the century promoted southern authors and southern themes. as i indicated, gilder mentor, published, and publicized thomas elton page. after accepting page's story,

gilder worked three years to modify parts he thought might offend northern sensibilities. while closing the century's pages to uncouth white southerners, they were open to page's mythmaking. eventually, gilder realized the unreconstructed nature of page's beliefs. his essays criticized african-american social and political aspirations. the century stopped publishing his work. then, a best-selling author, page no longer needed the century. despite initial problems, rives quickly found a new publisher who tolerated her eccentricities and unconventionality. by early august 1886, she was in contact with the publishers of harper's. the following year, harper's published four of her stories,

including "virginia of virginia," and a story which chronicled the life of a virginia farmers daughter who married a wealthy northerner for social position. the 1891 testimonial to rives as "the most noted of the younger writers" came from thomas nelson page himself. elsewhere in that article, page largely slighted white southern female authors and reserve praise to men, particularly joel chandler harris and other authors of dialect stories. page did not even mention mark twain, of a considered to be the greatest 19th century southern writer, or charles chestnutt, or sherwood bonner, a mississippi woman whose novel depicted a romance between an alabama woman and a northern abolitionist. the experiences of amelie rives

show the limit of northern publications. they wanted a national literature and were open to white southern women and african-americans, but prefer to read about a beautified old south rather than an impoverished postwar south. gilder helped page become the symbol as well as the voice of southern literature that glorified the slaves south and marginalized those who pictured a south outside that mythological realm. by the time of page's 1981 testimonial, her writing moved far from southern topics. only by birth was she a southern writer. while some of her later stories and novels used virginia locales, none dealt in southern themes. after publishing the first poem under her own name, she always

used her own name and publications. over time, she deviated even further from the behavior expected of a southern later -- southern lady. novels contained assertive, passionate, sensual women. she divorced her first husband to pursue another love. she aimed to be a celebrity as well as a novelist. she cheered on a younger generation of writers, including ellen glasgow. as a young lady, connolly reeves wanted to write. as she sought male mentors and sponsors, she portrayed herself as flirtatious but pure, and expressed ladylike difference to their superior -- ladylike de ference. she played on the role of the southern lady to serve her unladylike aspirations. victorious in the 1890's, rives

at her desk in 1945 was almost unknown, and her part in the southern literary movement of the late 19th century had been largely forgotten. thank you. [applause] >> what was her educational background? she was born in 1863, grew up near charlottesville. i wonder if she had any formal education. does she refer to any authors that she felt particularly influenced by? jane: she was particularly influenced by her grandfather's library at chapel hill, where she read widely. her first years were spent in mobile, alabama, where her father was an executive for the mobile and ohio railroad.

she apparently had tutors and it was quite am unsystematic education. she was largely self educated. she discovered herself. she educated herself. she had tutors and governess's. the higher education that women were beginning to receive. this was the time of the founding of the seven sisters colleges, and when many southern women's colleges were founded in the antebellum period. >> thanks. i am her husband. but i have read this manuscript many times. what do you think were the

readers of her works? what was her audience? who was she talking to, do you think? jane: i think disparate -- different parts of her writing spoke to different audiences. there is a real fad in chivalric stories, stories about knights and ladies in the postwar period. "a brother to dragons" and some of her earlier stories written in elizabethan dialect -- that is who they might appeal to. "the quick or the dead" appeal to young men and women because it was a romance pursued with a lot of intensity. there is a wide reading public in these days, and she is publishing in the magazines

which are shared among people of all ages, i think, and even among the better off classes among the literate. so she is trying to break out of the domestic novel, the marriage novel that appealed only to women. she is trying to have a wider readership. hard to pin down. >> she was writing when the myth of the lost cause was emerging. was she accepting of that, or did she express suspicion? jane: she generally ignored it. i think the only book of hers that seems to have expressed -- to have accepted some of the lost cause came out in 1914, in which she depicted a plantation

with really very high-minded owners. but it is still a postwar plantation. she did not go back to the antebellum period. one of her close friends was a southern writer named julia mcgruder, who grew up in washington, d.c. the greater expressed a much greater sort of distaste for the lost cause. and in one story ridiculed ladies who seemed to belong to something like the united daughters of the confederacy. but rives by and large ignored the lost cause. i think her 19th century african-americans and whites are not stereotypical, but she is

quite willing to ridicule ordinary white people and african-americans, to use them for comic effect. >> how did her life conclude? jane: after she divorces her very wealthy first husband, she marries a russian portrait player, prince pierre troubetzkoy. they live in the plantation castle hill. as they are nearing the ends of their careers in the 1920's and

1930's, they are becoming increasingly impoverished. her books are no longer selling. i think he is not able to paint. he dies in 1936. so she has a rather sad last few years after the death of her husband as she is lonely living with her never-married sister at castle hill, which does not have central heating and is falling into disrepair. and the war in europe, given that she had married a russian ancestry portrait painter who had grown up in italy, she was really saddened by world war ii. she saw hitler's and mussolini as harbingers of barbarism and lights going out all over the world. as her light is going out, she is very sad.

but i should add for that she actually come in the early 20th century, is a working author, and i think does -- she comes back from drug addiction to make a life for herself with the man she loves in the place that she loved. she loved albemarle county and the piedmont, and she loves castle hill. that was one source of friction with her first husband, who wanted her to travel the world. she wanted to see europe, but then she wanted to go back to castle hill and remain there. [a