Edward Eggleston, The Hoosier Schoolmaster: A Story of Backwoods Life in Indiana

Download PDF Add to Bookshelf Report an Error

Edward Eggleston’s

The Hoosier Schoolmaster

, published in 1871, is a classic of American regional fiction and a “dialect novel” that has long held the interest of linguists for its nuanced portrayal of speech patterns and social customs of nineteenth-century rural Indiana. Set in the 1840s in the fictional backwoods town of Flat Creek, the book relates the exploits of the eponymous schoolmaster-protagonist Ralph Hartsook as he contends with the rustic life and crude conditions of the frontier district. The schoolmaster, likening himself to a bulldog he encounters early in his adventure, shows pluck and tenacity, struggling against the provincialism of the Flat Creekers, quelling rebellious pupils, and surviving severe tests of character including a near lynching for a burglary he…

2008 words

Citation: Chura, Patrick, Rachel Roth. "The Hoosier Schoolmaster: A Story of Backwoods Life in Indiana". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 21 December 2011 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=34184, accessed 19 March 2024.]

34184 The Hoosier Schoolmaster: A Story of Backwoods Life in Indiana 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

Save this article

If you need to create a new bookshelf to save this article in, please make sure that you are logged in, then go to your 'Account' here

Leave Feedback

The Literary Encyclopedia is a living community of scholars. We welcome comments which will help us improve.