Megda

By Emma Dunham Kelley and Emma Dunham Kelly

Book Overview

Megda, a novel so popular in 1891 that it was reprinted the following year, tells the story of the conversion experiences of a group of young, middle-class Baptist women and their subsequent--or even consequent--marriages. A prime example of what has been called "girl's fiction," as distinct from the "women's fiction" that preceded it, Megda embodies the shift from a limit-breaking genre to limit-enforcing one. In it, racial issues are only indirectly addressed, gentility is a concern ranking only second to salvation, and humility and obedience are prerequisites to a woman's acceptance by the Christian community. In essence, this is a novel of socialization rather than of social protest. But, in expressing the values of its culture, Megda illuminates the limitations faced by doubly stigmatized people: people both black and female.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0195075765
• ISBN13: 9780195075762
• Release Date: April 1992
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
• Length: 432 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 4.7" x 6.5"

Customer Reviews

Megda is a great book!

I have read "Medga" five times, and each time it is like reading it anew. I always believed the writer was black, but now, I'm not so sure. Many of the areas of content in the book pointed to both black and white characters whom find themselves drawn to God away from the pleasures of the world. I have been greatly influenced by this author who published this novel more than a hundred years ago, and her writings, though plotted in the late 1800's, are based on the condition that this country is in today. I am looking forward to reading her second book "Four Girls at Cottage City" next. I own the book.