An Evening When Alone: Four Journals of Single Women in the South, 1827-67

by Michael O'Brien

A book that will greatly enhance understanding of the situation of single women in the nineteenth-century South, An Evening When Alone presents the journals of four very different women who, although their lives were worlds apart, each lived and wrote in the South during the years 1827-67. Intimate and revealing, these journals provide refreshing insight into the joys and travails of "ordinary" single women in the nineteenth century South: courtship, disappointed love, illness, the gratifications and pains of female friendship, the grief of the Civil War, the ambivalences of family life, and the difficulty and consolation of religion.

Genres: Nonfiction, History

460 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Various authors, various genres (not disambiguated)

Reviews

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book turned up in a charity shop for 95p. I bought it because the voices of single women are often absent from historical record, and this seemed like a positive attempt to redress that. The anthology contains four diaries of single women in the deep South, spanning 1827 to 1867. The four diarists are very different women in very different situations, providing interesting contrasts. Two are in their twenties, one in her thirties, and the fourth older. The younger two are preoccupied with social life and travel, the older concerned with their living situations. Probably most strikingly, the younger two writers are happy, whereas the older two are not.

From a historical perspective, the most useful elements of the diaries are Jane Caroline North's travelogue, which includes a lovely description of the Niagara Falls, and Ann Lewis Hardeman's perspectives on the outbreak of Civil War. Also very striking to me is the total lack of acknowledgement, let alone questioning, of slavery. All four women have their domestic chores done by slaves, all four occasionally mention slaves in a careless, dismissive, sometimes cruel fashion. Today this attitude seems extraordinarily shocking, more so as elsewhere in their journals all four women shows signs of sensitivity, kindness, and thoughtfulness. Indeed, several question the narrowness of women's role in society. Slavery, however, appears unworthy of comment, let along interrogation. In Ann Lewis Hardeman's journal, any links it might have to the Civil War are not mentioned, although to be fair she scarcely discusses the war other than in relation to her nephews involvement.

This final journal, that of Ann Lewis Hardeman, is difficult to read. I found it very upsetting. Hardeman is deeply unhappy throughout much of the seventeen years of her journal, in a manner which could be interpreted today as clinical depression. Her entries tend to be litanies of ill-health, death, anniversaries of dead relatives, and worries for living ones. Hardeman clearly had little to console her in life other than religion. She seems perpetually lonely, sad, and unwell. She repeatedly comments over the seventeen years that she has no further purpose in life, might as well be dead, and expects that she soon will die. I was especially struck by her eloquent account of the death of her niece in 1853, which is truly heart-breaking. Her journal certainly shows the emotional toll that large families with high mortality rates suffered in the nineteenth century.

The anthology has an informative and well-composed introduction, as well as bringing attention to a segment of the population often ignored in history. I'm giving it three stars overall, however, because the longest diary is also the most depressing one. After putting myself through that, I'll need to read something cheerful next in order to recover.

[Tim Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent collection of four single women's diaries, which span the Civil War Era. I read this for an article about reading and print culture I'm finishing. The Ruffin diary was most useful, as she thoughtfully engaged with reading material. The anonymous "Selma plantation diarist," with her birds, aggravated me greatly. The Hardeman diary offered insight into Confederate nationalism, which is quite valuable and poignant.

I wish more volumes like these were published these days.