Tuesday, September 19, 2023

The Lamplighter

19 September 2023: A pretty productive work-at-home day, pushing through a draft and revision of my entry on The Lamplighter. This is a book I had heard a lot about but hadn't read before. It was fun to dive into and--once again--I find myself feeling very nineteenth-century when I reflect on what moves me, including this passage from late in the book: "Trust in goodness, wherever it can be found…But, O, trust all, rather than none" (305). Seems like a good way to live; if you are proven wrong, at least you would have been on the side of the light.

Work Cited

Cummins, Maria Susanna. The Lamplighter. 1854. Edited by Nina Baym, Rutgers UP, 1988.

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