1. Susan Hale was an American author, traveler and artist.
22 Facts About Susan Hale
1. 2.
Susan Hale was a prolific writer as well as a famous watercolor painter, art which she studied under English, French and German masters.
3.
Susan Hale was associated with her brother, the Rev Edward Everett Hale, in the publication of The Family Flight series, which included the several countries she had visited.
4.
Susan Hale exhibited her paintings of the White Mountains in New Hampshire, of North Carolina scenery and of foreign scenes, in New York City and Boston.
5.
Susan Hale edited Life and Letters of Thomas Gold Appleton, and contributed numerous articles to periodicals.
6.
Susan Hale was born in Boston, Massachusetts to Nathan Hale and Sarah Preston Everett who had a total of seven children.
7.
Susan Hale's mother was a sister of Edward Everett, a Unitarian minister and politician.
8.
Susan Hale was educated privately by tutors until she was 16, and then entered the school of George Barrell Emerson.
9.
Susan Hale did not follow conventional feminine standards of the time as she did not marry nor dedicated herself to domestic affairs.
10.
Susan Hale started this occupation when her father became ill and the family income needed to be supplemented.
11.
Susan Hale's father died there in 1862 and her mother in 1865.
12.
On returning from abroad, Susan Hale took rooms at 91 Boylston Street in Boston and continued her teaching.
13.
Susan Hale lived and maintained a studio in the Art Club at 64 Boylston Street.
14.
However, Susan Hale did travel alone in many occasions and stayed in rented rooms, showing her feminine agency and independence.
15.
In Spain, Susan Hale found a complex artistic landscape: Romanticism giving way to Realism and Costumbrismo.
16.
Susan Hale narrates probably from her personal experience in the country, describing various locations in Spain, cultural insights on societal norms and daily life at the time.
17.
Susan Hale eventually moved most of her things to Matunuck, and began to spend time there regularly during summers.
18.
Susan Hale continued visiting Boston between her travels abroad and her stays at Matunuck.
19.
Susan Hale's watercolors were mostly landscapes done during her travels; she described her travels in vivid detail in letters to her sister, Lucretia.
20.
Susan Hale knew exactly what her limitations were and this is probably a reason why many of the books she wrote alongside her brother Edward about their travels were first published only under his name.
21.
Susan Hale writes this novel with a respectful and kind tone and depicts Spaniards as equals to Americans and not as an inferior country.
22.
Yet, as it was mentioned, Susan Hale was challenged by colonialist conceptions and failed to completely detach herself and her writings from it.