Harriet Beecher Stowe

[L Verge]

I never knew until today that Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote a "sequel" to Uncle Tom's Cabin. Perhaps sequel is not the right term because A Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin is actually a compilation of documentation that she claimed to have used in writing the original expose novel.

Has anyone read it?

[LincolnToddFan]

Hi Laurie, no and this is the first I've even heard of a sequel. I read "Cabin" when I was about thirteen.

[L Verge]

(04-26-2015 10:04 PM)LincolnToddFan Wrote:  Hi Laurie, no and this is the first I've even heard of a sequel. I read "Cabin" when I was about thirteen.

I stumbled upon it while looking for something else. I'll see if I can find the link again. I think it was part of a tumblr.com page on the holdings of Lincoln Financial??

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(04-27-2015 11:46 AM)L Verge Wrote:  

(04-26-2015 10:04 PM)LincolnToddFan Wrote:  Hi Laurie, no and this is the first I've even heard of a sequel. I read "Cabin" when I was about thirteen.

I stumbled upon it while looking for something else. I'll see if I can find the link again. I think it was part of a tumblr.com page on the holdings of Lincoln Financial??

Here's the text, but the photos of the original book covers would not transfer. lincolncollection.tumblr.com

Legend has it that when President Lincoln met Harriet Beecher Stowe in late 1862, he greeted her by saying, “So you’re the little woman who wrote the book that started this great war.” Although a meeting did take place, the greeting attributed to Lincoln is entirely apocryphal—an addition to Stowe and Lincoln lore that was not documented by either party and that did not appear in print until 1896.

It is clear, however, that Lincoln read Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin as well as A Key to Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Stowe’s nonfiction response to her critics, which Lincoln borrowed from the Library of Congress on June 16, 1862. First editions of both books are held by the Lincoln Financial Foundation Collection and can be read online.

[RJNorton]

(04-27-2015 11:46 AM)L Verge Wrote:  Legend has it that when President Lincoln met Harriet Beecher Stowe in late 1862, he greeted her by saying, “So you’re the little woman who wrote the book that started this great war.” Although a meeting did take place, the greeting attributed to Lincoln is entirely apocryphal—an addition to Stowe and Lincoln lore that was not documented by either party and that did not appear in print until 1896.

There is a very well-researched article about this here.

[Juan Marrero]

If memory serves, I think that "Key" rather than being a continuation of the story is a compillation of actual events that parallel those in UTC. After the intial publication, some in the South accused Mrs Stowe of wholesale invention, arguing that the character ofSimon Legree was preposterous. Mrs. Stowe rebutted these charges by basically annotating UTC with the actual stories that inspired her.

I find it sad that the term "Uncle Tom" has practically become a term of abuse. It was the first "real" book I read as a child and I remember the great impression it made on me. The Christ-like Tom is one of the purest figures in literature. Unfortunately, the character was reduced to minstrel show dimensions by the countless theatrical rip-offs. Yet a great wrong has been done to "Uncle Tom" and Mrs. Stowe.