In this Book
- Martin Faber: The Story of a Criminal with "Confessions of a Murder"
- Book
- 2006
- Published by: University of Arkansas Press
summary
William Gilmore Simms’s (1806–1870) body of work, a sweeping fictional portrait of the colonial and antebellum South in all its regional diversity, with its literary and intellectual issues, is probably more comprehensive than any other nineteenth-century southern author. Simms’s career began with a short novel, Martin Faber, published in 1833. This Gothic tale is reminiscent of James Hogg’s Confessions of a Sinner and was written four years before Edgar Allan Poe’s “William Wilson.” Narrated in the first person, it is considered a pioneering examination of criminal psychology. Martin seduces then murders Emily so that he might marry another woman, Constance. Martin confesses to his friend and is killed after attempting to stab Constance when she visits him in jail. The book was immediately successful and was well received by the northern media, thus starting Simms’s successful career as a writer, one that would rank him as the only major southern literary figure besides Poe before the Civil War. As with other volumes in the Arkansas Edition of Simms’s work, this volume includes a critical introduction by the editor and a Simms chronology, as well as appendices dealing with textual matters. This edition also includes Simms’s 1829 story, “Confessions of a Murderer,” which was the germ for his first book of fiction.
Table of Contents
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- Preface to the Arkansas Edition
- pp. xi-xii
- Special Note to Martin Faber
- pp. xiii-xiv
- William Gilmore Simms Chronology
- pp. xv-xviii
- Introduction
- pp. xix-xxx
- Reproduction of Title Page
- Chapter II
- pp. 8-11
- Chapter III
- pp. 11-14
- Chapter IV
- pp. 14-18
- Chapter VI
- pp. 20-25
- Chapter VII
- pp. 25-27
- Chapter VIII
- pp. 27-28
- Chapter IX
- pp. 28-30
- Chapter XI
- pp. 33-35
- Chapter XII
- pp. 35-37
- Chapter XIII
- pp. 38-42
- Chapter XIV
- pp. 42-45
- Chapter XV
- pp. 45-49
- Chapter XVI
- pp. 49-54
- Chapter XVII
- pp. 54-57
- Chapter XVIII
- pp. 57-59
- Chapter XIX
- pp. 59-64
- Chapter XX
- p. 64
- Appendices
- Historical and Textual Commentary
- pp. 67-71
- Explanatory Notes
- p. 72
- Textual Notes and Emendations
- pp. 73-82
- Text of “Confessions of a Murder”
- pp. 83-89
- Select Bibliography
- pp. 95-96
Additional Information
ISBN
9781610752602
Related ISBN(s)
9781557288103
MARC Record
OCLC
867793624
Pages
132
Launched on MUSE
2013-01-01
Language
English
Open Access
No