Sally Ann's Experience
Encyclopedia
Sally Ann's Experience is a short story written by American
author Eliza "Lida" Calvert Obenchain under the pen name
Eliza Calvert Hall
.
, called a "double narrative," was a common form of storytelling in this era. Aunt Jane spoke with a heavy regional dialect and a folksy style. She tells of the problems facing women of her time with imagery and symbolism taken from the domestic arts of sewing, cooking, and gardening.
published "Sally Ann's Experience." The story was reprinted in the Woman's Journal
, the Ladies' Home Journal
, and in international magazines and newspapers. When Obenchain published her first book, a collection of short stories featuring Aunt Jane, in 1907 under the title Aunt Jane of Kentucky
, Sally Ann's Experience was the first story in the book. The demand for the story remained high, so Little, Brown, and Company republished it in 1910. Obenchain add an Introduction to the 1910 republication of the story, and in it she describes the story as "a plain tale of plain people told in the plain dialect of a plain old woman."
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
author Eliza "Lida" Calvert Obenchain under the pen name
Pen name
A pen name, nom de plume, or literary double, is a pseudonym adopted by an author. A pen name may be used to make the author's name more distinctive, to disguise his or her gender, to distance an author from some or all of his or her works, to protect the author from retribution for his or her...
Eliza Calvert Hall
Eliza Calvert Hall
Eliza Caroline "Lida" Obenchain , was an American author, women's rights advocate and suffragist from Bowling Green, Kentucky...
.
Aunt Jane
"Aunt Jane", an elderly spinster, was a recurring character in Lida Obenchain's short stories who told the experiences of the people in a rural southern town, named Goshen to a younger woman visitor who relayed them to the reader. This type of rhetorical deviceRhetorical device
In rhetoric, a rhetorical device or resource of language is a technique that an author or speaker uses to convey to the listener or reader a meaning with the goal of persuading him or her towards considering a topic from a different perspective. While rhetorical devices may be used to evoke an...
, called a "double narrative," was a common form of storytelling in this era. Aunt Jane spoke with a heavy regional dialect and a folksy style. She tells of the problems facing women of her time with imagery and symbolism taken from the domestic arts of sewing, cooking, and gardening.
Publication history
In 1898 CosmopolitanCosmopolitan (magazine)
Cosmopolitan is an international magazine for women. It was first published in 1886 in the United States as a family magazine, was later transformed into a literary magazine and eventually became a women's magazine in the late 1960s...
published "Sally Ann's Experience." The story was reprinted in the Woman's Journal
Woman's Journal
Woman's Journal was a women's rights periodical published from 1870-1931.Woman's Journal was founded in 1870 in Boston, Massachusetts by Lucy Stone and her husband Henry Browne Blackwell as a weekly newspaper. The new paper incorporated Mary A...
, the Ladies' Home Journal
Ladies' Home Journal
Ladies' Home Journal is an American magazine which first appeared on February 16, 1883, and eventually became one of the leading women's magazines of the 20th century in the United States...
, and in international magazines and newspapers. When Obenchain published her first book, a collection of short stories featuring Aunt Jane, in 1907 under the title Aunt Jane of Kentucky
Aunt Jane of Kentucky
Aunt Jane of Kentucky is a collection of nine short stories written by American author Eliza "Lida" Calvert Obenchain. Obenchain wrote the book under the pen name Eliza Calvert Hall, a pseudonym that she frequently used when writing her fictional works...
, Sally Ann's Experience was the first story in the book. The demand for the story remained high, so Little, Brown, and Company republished it in 1910. Obenchain add an Introduction to the 1910 republication of the story, and in it she describes the story as "a plain tale of plain people told in the plain dialect of a plain old woman."