Renewed but not Redeemed: Revising Elsie Dinsmore

Elsie Dinsmore, the first book in a late 19th century children’s series, is unique because it had not been adapted, just reprinted, until 1999. It is also unique in the setting, the mythic Southern plantation life of the 1850s. The 1999 edition ameliorated what is now recognized as racist language based on the images of the minstrelsy tradition, though consonant with the views of the time period. However, the deep structure of the story—its dependence on the plantation myth, its belief in the basic inferiority of African Americans, and its acceptance of slavery as compatible with Christianity—is not changed. The new edition is a comment on the publishing industry’s disregard of racial history and the importance of context for understanding literature.