The House of the Black Ring

A Romance of the Seven Mountains

Fred Lewis Pattee

• Publisher: Penn State University Press
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9780271059419
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: North American Literary Criticism
• Index: Literature

Fred Lewis Pattee, long regarded as the father of American literary study, also wrote fiction. Originally published in 1905 by Henry Holt, The House of the Black Ring was Pattee's second novel—a local-color romance set in the mountains of Central Pennsylvania. The book's plot is driven by family feud, forbidden love, and a touch of the supernatural. This new edition makes this novel accessible to new generations of modern-day readers. General readers will find in The House of the Black Ring a thriller that preserves details of rural life and language during the late nineteenth century. Scholars will read it as an expression of cultural anxiety and change in the decades after the Civil War.

An introduction by poet and essayist Julia Spicher Kasdorf situates the novel within the context of social and literary history, as well as Pattee's own biography, and provides a compelling argument for its importance, not only as a literary artifact or record of local customs, but also as a reflection of Pattee's own story intertwined with the history of Penn State at the turn of the twentieth century. Joshua Brown draws on his expertise in Pennsylvania German ethno-linguistics to interpret the dialect writing and to give readers a clearer view of the customs and regionalisms depicted in the book.

Table of contents

• COVER Front
• CIP page
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction (Julia Spicher Kasdorf)
• Note on the Publication History (James L. W. West III)
• The House of the Black Ring
• Preface to the 1916 Edition
• Chapter I THE AFFAIR AT TRESSLER’S FARM
• Notes to Chapter I
• Chapter II WHERE THE DEVIL TREADS, WHO LOOKS FOR SNOW ?
• Notes to Chapter II
• Chapter III ROSE HARTSWICK
• Notes to Chapter III
• Chapter IV THE WOOING AT HARTSWICK HALL
• Notes to Chapter IV
• Chapter V THE HORSE-RACING ON MOON RUN
• Notes to Chapter V
• Chapter VI THE WINDY SIDE OF THE LAW
• Notes to Chapter VI
• Notes to Chapter VII
• Chapter VII THE FLITTING DINNER
• Chapter VIII THE FIRING OF HELLER’S CABIN
• Notes to Chapter VIII
• Chapter IX THE FIRE ON CHERRY CREEK
• Chapter X THE MILL DOWN FOAMING VALLEY
• Notes to Chapter X
• Chapter XI LONA HELLER
• Notes to Chapter XI
• Chapter XII THE PLAY AND THE CHORUS
• Notes to Chapter XII
• Chapter XIII THE POW-WOWING AT ROARING RUN
• Notes to Chapter XIII
• Chapter XIV IN THE WILD AZALEA
• Notes to Chapter XIV
• Chapter XV THE MURDER IN SUGAR VALLEY
• Notes to Chapter XV
• Chapter XVI THE MOB AT HELLER’S GAP
• Notes to Chapter XVI
• Chapter XVII THE HOUR OF THE POWERS OF DARKNESS
• Notes to Chapter XVII
• Chapter XVIII IN THE HEART OF THE LIMESTONE
• Notes to Chapter XVIII
• Chapter XIX THE LAST OF THE HARTSWICKS
• Notes to Chapter XIX
• Chapter XX THE REVENGE OF MATTHEW HELLER
• Notes to Chapter XX
• NOTES
• Bibliography
• COVER Back