Louise Clarke Pyrnelle (June 19, 1850 – August 26, 1907) was an
Alabama
(We dare defend our rights)
, anthem = " Alabama"
, image_map = Alabama in United States.svg
, seat = Montgomery
, LargestCity = Huntsville
, LargestCounty = Baldwin County
, LargestMetro = Greater Birmingham
, area_total_km2 = 135,7 ...
writer. Her works drew heavily from her childhood experiences growing up on an antebellum plantation.
Life
Pyrnelle was born Elizabeth Louise Clarke on a
cotton plantation
A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...
in
Perry County Perry County may refer to:
United States
* Perry County, Alabama
* Perry County, Arkansas
*Perry County, Illinois
* Perry County, Indiana
* Perry County, Kentucky
* Perry County, Mississippi
* Perry County, Missouri
*Perry County, Ohio
*Perr ...
, Alabama. After the
Civil War
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polici ...
, the family moved to
Dallas County, Alabama, where her father opened a medical practice. She was educated in lecturing, and worked as a governess and public speaker.
In 1880 she married John Parnell. Her novel ''Diddie, Dumps & Tot; or plantation child-life'' was published in 1882 under the pseudonym "Pyrnelle" – a slight variation on her husband's name. She would publish only one other work during her lifetime: a story called "Aunt Flora's Courtship and Marriage". She died in 1907.
Works
''Diddie, Dumps & Tot; or plantation child-life'', 1882
:This novel was noted at the time for its use of the
southern black vernacular, a dialect also used by Mark Twain and Joel Chandler Harris, and which was thought to add "authenticity" to writing about the American South. The novel offered a nostalgic and romanticized view of
antebellum
Antebellum, Latin for "before war", may refer to:
United States history
* Antebellum South, the pre-American Civil War period in the Southern United States
** Antebellum Georgia
** Antebellum South Carolina
** Antebellum Virginia
* Antebellum ar ...
plantation life, and was popular during the 19th and 20th centuries.
''Miss Li'l' Tweetty'', 1917
:This posthumously published novel describes the childhood experiences of a young girl named 'Tweetty'.
Like ''Diddie, Dumps & Tot'', its depictions of slavery were uncritical and nostalgic.
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Pyrnelle, Louise Clarke
1850 births
1907 deaths
19th-century American novelists
American women novelists
Novelists from Alabama
19th-century American women writers