The Partisan: A Romance of Revolution

by William Gilmore Simms, Stephen E. Meats (Editor), James L.W. West (Editor)

The writings of William Gilmore Simms (1806-1870) provide a sweeping fictional portrait of the colonial and antebellum South in all of its regional diversity. Simms's account of the region is more comprehensive than that of any other author of his time; he treats the major intellectual and social issues of the South and depicts the bonds and tensions among all of its inhabitants. By the mid-1840s Simms's novels were so well known that Edgar Allan Poe could call him "the best novelist which this country has, on the whole, produced." The thirteenth volume in the ongoing Arkansas Edition of the works of Simms, The Partisan is the first in order of publication of Simms's Revolutionary War romances. Although Simms took advantage of the novelist's prerogative to invent characters and events for his saga, he did so with a historian's eye, making extensive use of official histories; letters, diaries, and other documents; family traditions; and unpublished and published memoirs. Simms gives human interest to the novel's historical framework with two love triangles, mixing romantic conventions with gritty realism that outlines the four classes of Simms's ideal society. The Partisan is also remarkable among Simms's work for its use of symbols, indicating, perhaps, a new intention for the novel. The result is a satisfying work of literary art enlivened with adventure and humor while remaining true to the history behind it.

560 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1976

About the author

William Gilmore Simms (April 17, 1806 – June 11, 1870) was a poet, novelist and historian from the American South whose novels achieved great prominence during the 19th century, with Edgar Allan Poe pronouncing him the best novelist America had ever produced. In recent decades, though, Simms' novels have fallen out of favor, although he is still known among literary scholars as a major force in antebellum Southern literature. He is also remembered for his strong support of slavery and for his opposition to Uncle Tom's Cabin, in response to which he wrote reviews and a novel.

Reviews

[Mark Stephenson · Rating 5 out of 5]

First e-book read, downloaded free from Googlebooks. Originally published in 1835 this inspired romance, set in South Carolina during the conflict for American independence was widely read in antebellum years and has many qualities which make its popularity understandable: lots of vivid action, superbly wrought scenes of conflict, effective melodrama, noble characters, nefarious characters, comic characters and many insightful and uplifting authorial observations. Simms possessed immense patriotism and talent and does not deserve to be ignored just because he was on the losing side of the Civil War. The version I read is full of typographical errors but I discovered that the first 20 chapters have been posted on Wikipedia and seem to be error free.