Grace King
Grace King (1852-1932) was an influential American writer and a prominent figure in Southern literature, known for her unique feminine perspective and insightful storytelling. Born into a well-to-do Catholic family in New Orleans, her life was significantly impacted by the Civil War, which forced her family to relocate and later grapple with poverty. Despite these challenges, she nurtured her passions for travel and writing, eventually fostering relationships with notable authors like Mark Twain and William Dean Howells during her summers in Connecticut.
King's literary career began in 1886 with the publication of "Monsieur Motte," which set the tone for her subsequent works, often infused with themes of gender, race, and the complexities of Southern life during and post-Civil War. Her acclaimed short story "Bayou L'Ombre" highlights her personal experiences and reflections on the Reconstruction era, while her later works, such as "The Pleasant Ways of St. Medard," solidified her reputation as a significant writer of her time.
Although King did not achieve the same level of fame as her contemporaries, her narratives are marked by an oral quality that captures the essence of Southern culture and community. In recent years, a resurgence of interest in her work has helped to restore her legacy, recognizing her contributions to both regional literature and women's studies. Through her stories, King offers poignant insights into the social dynamics of her time, crafting narratives that resonate with themes still relevant today.
On this Page
Subject Terms
Grace King
Author
- Born: November 29, 1852
- Birthplace: New Orleans, Louisiana
- Died: January 12 (or 14), 1932
Biography
Grace King was born on November 29, 1852, to William King, a successful New Orleans lawyer, and his wife, Sarah. Her comfortable position as the eldest daughter in a prominent Catholic family was disturbed by the outbreak of the Civil War. The Kings fled to their country plantation. King’s convent schooling was cut short by this relocation, but she nevertheless retained her twin desires to travel and write. After waiting out the war, the Kings returned to New Orleans to a lingering poverty. Though circumstances gradually improved, they never enjoyed the security of their prewar existence.
To escape the New Orleans heat, King began summering with the Charles Warner family in Connecticut when she was in her thirties. In Connecticut she fostered many literary acquaintances, including authors William Dean Howells and Mark Twain. King began a lifelong correspondence with Twain, who considered her plain in face but gifted in pen. Afforded the opportunity to travel abroad in 1891 to lecture on poet Sidney Lanier at Cambridge’s Newnham College, King gladly accepted. She extended her European tour and was particularly entranced by French culture.
King’s career began with the publication in 1886 of “Monsieur Motte” in the New Princeton Review. The story was about a young New Orleans girl, Marie Modeste, orphaned when her father died in battle. Believing her care to be in the hands of a benevolent uncle, she discovers that he died in the war and that a mysterious woman has been her benefactress. Additional tales featuring the popular character followed and were published as the novel Monsieur Motte (1888). The autobiographical “Bayou L’Ombre” (1887) is considered by critics to be King’s finest short story; it mirrors King’s own flight from New Orleans in childhood to escape federal troops. Tales of a Time and Place (1892) and Balcony Stories (1893), collections of stories set in the Civil War years and their aftermath, found readership in both the South and the North. In the early twentieth century King wrote regional histories, but returned to fiction in the 1910’s. Her 1916 novel The Pleasant Ways of St. Medard is considered by many to be her masterpiece.
Classified as an American realist alongside such notables as Howells and Edith Wharton, King never quite achieved their fame, perhaps because of the nostalgic tone of much of her fiction. Still King’s firsthand knowledge of the hardships of Reconstruction informs her works and renders them authentic. Her lived experiences enrich her regional storytelling. There is an oral quality to her narratives that King attributed to overhearing her mother trade gossip with neighbors over balcony railings.
A renewed interest in regional studies and works by neglected women writers has rescued King’s works from obscurity and restored her reputation as an accomplished author. As a Southern writer, she is valued for her unique feminine perspective; stories are narrated through women’s voices and events viewed through women’s eyes. King’s focus on connections between gender, race, and poverty has secured her a place in women’s studies. A new generation of critics acknowledges that far from being a simple sentimentalist longing for a bygone era, King reinforced the myth of a magnificent Southern past even as she cast doubt upon its veracity.