Mimic Life or, Before & Behind the Curtain - A Series of Narratives: Emergent Texts in American Literature (Anna Cora Mowatt)

Anna Cora Mowatt's Mimic Life Contains Three Novellas about life in the nineteenth-century theater. Mowatt, the first woman to give public professional readings in America, a playwright, an acclaimed actress, a poet and a novelist, has here to fore been known almost exclusively for her play 'Fashion'. This reflects not only her real life experiences on stage but also the complicated process by which the theatrical life is transmuted into fiction. Her main interest in these stories is to rescue the reputation of women, both stars and backstage denizens, from the contemporary imputation of immorality. "Stella" is the story of Stella Rosenvelt, a young woman who like Mowatt herself, defies the expectations of her social class and pursues a professional career as an actress. The second novella, "The Prompter's Daughter" Features a crippled prompter and his bit-polayer wife who fight to keep their self respect from the twin afflictions of poverty and their child's sudden fame on stage. The final piece, "The Unknown Tragedian" most overtly addresses the issue of the actress as sexual magnet and the problems that occur when stage fantasies merge with life realities. This edition of Mimic Life, the first since 1855, features and Intro to Mowatt's life her career as a fiction writer, and the text as well as explanatory notes.