Reading the Indians: The Ramona Myth in American Culture

Despite, or perhaps because of, its popularity in 19th-century America,Ramona(1884), Helen Hunt Jackson's nostalgic novel of the California mission Indians, has seemed to offer little to academic readers. Seldom appearing on the lists of required reading for college courses in American literature, Jackson's novel has also been virtually ignored by literary and cultural scholars. Nevertheless,Ramonahas had an active and influential “cultural life.” Jackson's Indian novel appealed to generations of readers from a wide variety of regions and socioeconomic classes. Published in the same year asHuckleberry Finn, Ramonafirst ran as a six-month serial in theChristian Unionand subsequently amassed tremendous sales figures both in the United States and abroad. In 1885; for example,Ramonasold 21,000 copies as one of the year's best-sellers, and by 1900 readers had purchased more than 74,000 copies. Despite the lack of cheap, reprint editions, the novel continued to sell roughly 10,000 copies per year for most years through 1935. Held by 68 percent of U.S. libraries in 1893, it was one of only three contemporary novels held by 50 percent or more of the public libraries in the United States. Indeed, at least one of them had enormous trouble meeting public demand for the novel: in 1914 the Los Angeles Public Library was circulating 105 copies ofRamona, but it still had a waiting list; by 1946 the library had bought over a thousand copies of the novel. Never out of print,Ramonahas been translated into “all known languages” and has been printed hundreds of times in dozens of editions. The popularity ofUncle Tom's Cabinwas phenomenal, but inRamonaHarriet Beecher Stowe's novel had a worthy rival. Clearly a powerful explanatory myth for generations of American readers,Ramonadeserves serious attention from literary and cultural scholars alike.