HARRIET BEECHER STOWE
American author (1811-1896)
Biography:
Harriet Elisabeth Beecher was born in Lichtchfiled, Connecticut, the 14th June 1811. Even though being brought up in a puritan way --her father was a congregationist minister like Jonathan Edwards and her six brothers ended up like him too-- she was neither prudish nor religious. However, protestantism played an important role in her life. In 1835 she got married to Clavin Stowe, minister and biblical literature teacher. In 1849, her sixth child dies from cholera, which leaves her in a grieving state.
In 1850 the Fugitive Slave Law was passed by which everybody had to denounce any fugitive slave and hand him/her over to the authorities. This law inspired Harriet Beecher Stowe to write a serial that appeared in The national Era in 1851: Uncle Tom's Cabin. This book arose controversies which had a determining influence on the Civil War. It has been translated into 32 languages and adapted into a play which was on stage until 1930. In 1856 she published its sequel: Dred, a tale of the Great Dismal Swamp. Her success is less related to the litterary value of her work rather than her modernity in dealing with slavery, at a moment when the problems with slaves were tearing America apart. She died in 1896.
Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of illustrated works:
La Case de l'Oncle Tom, illustrated by Clément Auguste Andrieux Perrotin, 1853.