Anna Hanson Dorsey
Anna Hanson Dorsey | |
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| Born | 1815 |
| Died | December 26, 1896 (aged 80–81) Washington, D.C. |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Nationality | American |
| Genre | Novels, Short Stories |
| Notable awards | Laetare Medal |
| Spouse | Lorenzo Dorsey |
Anna Hanson Dorsey (1815 – 26 December 1896) was an American author of novels and short stories. A convert to Catholicism, she was a pioneer of Catholic literature in the United States.
Family[edit]
Born Anna Hanson in Georgetown, Washington, D.C., she was the daughter of William McKenney, a chaplain in the U.S. Navy, and Chloe Ann Lanigan McKenney.[1] In 1837 she married Lorenzo Dorsey, a Baltimore judge.[2] Their only son died fighting on the Union side in the American Civil War.[1] Her daughter, Ella Loraine Dorsey, was an author.[3]
Writing career[edit]
Dorsey converted to Catholicism in 1840 and thereafter devoted herself to Catholic literature, mainly in the form of stories and novels, although she wrote a small amount of poetry as well.[1] Her more than 40 novels frequently centered on a religious conversion narrative aimed at her largely Protestant audiences, and her New York Times obituary referred to her as a pioneer of Catholic literature in the United States.[2] Her plots tended towards melodrama, with elements such as mistaken identities, mysterious disappearances, and false accusations.[2] Her novel Coaina: The Rose of the Algonquins was translated into both German and Hindustani and also made into a stage play.[1] At least two of her novels — The Student of Blenheim Forest (1847) and The Sister of Charity (1850) — were still in print at the end of the century.[2]
Pope Leo XIII twice sent her his benediction, and the University of Notre Dame conferred upon her the Laetare Medal.[4]
She died in Washington, D.C.
Selected works[edit]
- The Student of Blenheim Forest (1847)
- Flowers of Love of Memory (1849)
- Oriental Pearl; or, the Catholic Immigrants (1850)
- Tears of the Diadem or, the Crown and the Cloister (1850)
- The Sister of Charity (1850)
- Woodreve Manor (1853)
- Conscience, or the Trials of May Brooke (1856)
- Coaina: The Rose of the Algonquins (1867)
- Nora Brady's Vow (1869)
- Tangled Paths (1885)
- Adrift (1887)
- The Heiress of Carrigmona (1887)
- The Old House at Glenaran (1887)
- Palms (1887)
- The Fate of the Dane and Other Stories (1888)
- Zoe's Daughter (1888)
- Ada's Trust
- Beth's Promise
- Mona, the Vestal
- The Flemings
- The Old Gray Rosary
- The Student of Blenheim Forest
- Warp and Woof
References[edit]
- ^ a b c d Willard, Frances E., and Mary A. Livermore, eds. A Woman of the Century: Fourteen Hundred-Seventy Biographical Sketches Accompanied by Portraits of Leading American Women in All Walks of Life. Moulton, 1893, pp. 253-54.
- ^ a b c d Sullivan, Eileen P. The Shamrock and the Cross: Irish American Novelists Shape American Catholicism, n.p.
- ^ James Emmett Ryan 2013, p. 104.
- ^ Waggaman, Mary. "Anne Hanson Dorsey." The Catholic Encyclopedia Vol. 5. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1909. 8 March 2019
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
Attribution[edit]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Anna Hanson Dorsey". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
Bibliography[edit]
- James Emmett Ryan (15 March 2013). Faithful Passages: American Catholicism in Literary Culture, 1844–1931. University of Wisconsin Pres. ISBN 978-0-299-29063-4.
Further reading[edit]
- Thorp, Willard. "Catholic Novelists in Defense of Their Faith, 1829–1865". Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society 78, pt. 1 (1968), pp. 25–117.
External links[edit]
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