Her friend H.P. Lovecraft compared Mrs. Edith Miniter’s fiction with that of Jane Austen. At a minimum, she merits a recognized place among the New England regionalists, where lesser writers already have established places. Despite her genius, Edith Miniter’s literary heritage has – until now – lain neglected in forgotten amateur journals, magazines and newspapers.
For Edith Miniter (1867-1934), daughter of a poet and a mathematician, the undercurrent of isolation and ancient whispers always persists. Collected here is her finest work in short fiction, including “Dead Houses,” from which this collection draws its name. One of Mrs. Miniter's ancestresses in the early nineteenth century was a suspected witch; and her “Wonted Fires” is as dark a piece of gothic fiction as the aficionado might desire.
Also included are her amateur writings, including the delightful Lovecraftian parody, “Falco Ossifracus.” Her essays mine a rich vein of information about amateurdom in general and Lovecraft in particular; he was one of very few she admitted to her confidence.
Rounding out the monumental, 380-page volume are essays about her life and work by Lovecraft and other of her contemporaries, as well as modern scholarship on Mrs. Miniter – revealing her as a fascinating emblem of a vanished period in literature.
This product was added to our catalog on Monday 05 April, 2010.
