Rebecca Harding Davis

Done by: Anastasiia Havryshchak

• 1861 - publication of her first book “The Story Life in the Iron
Mills”
• 1862 – publication of the second book “Margaret Howth: A
Story of Today”
• At age 6 moved to Wheeling, Virginia
• After graduation from high school, Davis was educated by her
mother, other tutors ( well known H. B. Stowe, Anna and
Susan Warner etc)
• Born in Washington, Pennsylvania. June, 24, 1831
• Eldest of 5 children with Richard Wilson and Rachel Leet
Brief story of her life
• Her son, Richard Harding Davis, went on to
become famous journalist
• Rebecca became one of the figureheads of
Literary Realism
• 1862 – happy marriage with lawyer Lamuel
Clark Davis and then they had 3 children
 Major work

“ Life in the Iron Mills” (“The Korl

Woman“)
1861
Theme: industrialization and the working
class; the lives of laborers and the
consequences of industrialization, in a
traditionally realistic style
 Style

Realism Elements of sentimentalism,

romanticism, realism, and
naturalism

Her literary works mark a

transition
Also published works
from romanticism to employing such literary genres
literary realism as the gothic and folklore
 Style

“Life on the Iron Mills" uses

Realism

sentimental elements (a narrator who directly addresses

the well defined reader and characters in extreme
situations);

romantic elements (a statue symbolizing a spiritually

hungry woman and owned by the narrator);

a realistic style with journalistic specificity and characters

typical of their social class.
 Themes

Social and
political issues
of the
nineteenth-
century

The American
Race
Civil War

The working
Regionalism Women
class