Mary N. Murfree
Mary Noailles Murfree, born in 1850 in Tennessee, is a notable figure in the local-color literary movement of the late 19th century. Her career, spanning nearly fifty years, includes the publication of eighteen novels and six short story collections, primarily focusing on the life and culture of the Southern Appalachian mountains. Writing under the pseudonym Charles Egbert Craddock, Murfree gained popularity for her authentic depictions of mountain life, rich detail, and distinctive dialect, with her first mountain story published in 1878. She drew inspiration from her upbringing in a wealthy Southern family and her experiences in the Cumberland Mountains, where her family spent summers.
Murfree's works, including her acclaimed novels "The Prophet of the Great Smoky Mountains" and "In the 'Stranger People's' Country," explore universal human themes while juxtaposing the lives of mountain folk with affluent visitors. Although her literary reputation waned by the early 20th century, and she is often regarded as a minor author today, her contributions remain significant within the local-color genre. Her stories are still appreciated for their vividness and are frequently included in anthologies of 19th-century American literature. Murfree passed away in 1922, leaving behind a legacy marked by her unique perspective on Appalachian culture.
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Mary N. Murfree
Writer
- Born: January 24, 1850
- Birthplace: Murfreesboro, Tennessee
- Died: July 31, 1922
Biography
Mary Noailles Murfree is best known for her place in the local-color movement of the last third of the nineteenth century. Her career spanned almost fifty years, during which time she published numerous stories in such magazines as The Atlantic Monthly and Harper’s Magazine, as well as eighteen novels and six collections of short stories on American subjects. She is remembered for her novels and stories set in the mountains of Tennessee, for her details of mountain life, and for her ear for dialect.
Murfree was born to an old and wealthy Southern family in 1850 on a plantation near Murfreesboro, Tennessee, which was named after her great-grandfather. Her family spent summers in the resort town of Beersheba Springs in the Cumberland Mountains, where she gathered much of the material for her stories. The family also lived in Nashville for a time, as the plantation was destroyed during the Civil War and later rebuilt.
Murfree’s family was socially refined and intellectual. Her parents encouraged their daughter’s education and literary ambitions. By 1874, she had begun selling stories to magazines. Her first mountain story, “The Dancin’ Party at Harrison’s Cove,” was published in The Atlantic Monthly in 1878 under the pseudonym Charles Egbert Craddock. Little had been written about the mountain people of the Southern Appalachians at that time, and the post-Civil War reading public appreciated “Craddock’s” first- hand knowledge of mountain life, “his” eye for detail, “his” ear for dialogue, and “his” description of setting, character, and customs. “Craddock” was a popular writer of wholesome, uncontroversial local-color stories, familiar to readers of American periodicals until the late 1890’s. Murfree’s identity was kept secret until after the publication of her first collection of stories In the Tennessee Mountains (1884), when she traveled to Boston to meet her publishers at Houghton Mifflin.
Her first short story collection was followed by a series of novels, some set during the Civil War, with most set in the Tennessee mountains. She also published additional collections of short stories. The mountain novels The Prophet of the Great Smoky Mountains (1885) and In the “Stranger People’s” Country (1891), along with her first short-story collection, are considered her best achievements. Her themes center around the universal qualities of human nature, while contrasting the folk tradition of the mountain characters with the life of the wealthy visitors to the region. She is noted for her descriptive literary style and her depiction of the speech and somewhat stereotyped behavior of her characters.
As literary tastes changed by the end of the 1890’s, Murfree turned to researching the history of Tennessee and Mississippi, where she also had family connections. She wrote several historical novels between 1899 and 1914. By the time she died in 1922, her literary reputation had declined. While critics consider her a minor author, she is nevertheless regarded as an important figure in the American local-color movement. Her best stories are vivid, lively, and enjoyable to read, and continue to be included in anthologies of nineteenth century American literature.