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Weeds was published by Harcourt Brace in 1923 and also brought out in England by Jonathan Cape. Despite favorable reviews by well-regarded critics the book made no impact, and Edith Summers Kelley never published another novel. Its reprinting here in this innovative series which brought back Zelda Fitzgerald’s Save Me the Waltz is in the opinion of the publishers a literary event of great magnitude—perhaps equal to the rediscovery of Henry Roth’s Call It Sleep. Weeds portrays the monotonous, drudging life of the small tenant farmer of the tobacco fields of Kentucky. The story centers around Judith Pippinger, who has spirit, beauty, and a restless seeking for a purpose in life, but who is brutalized by farm life. It is not a dramatic novel, as Matthew Bruccoli notes in his Introduction to this neglected masterpiece. But it is convincing. The people live. On two counts this book is important. It is a perfectly controlled work of fiction, and therefore has the automatic worth that any superior piece of literature has. Also, it has historical value as a peak achievement in the revolt-from-the-farm school of naturalistic American fiction. Edith Summers Kelley was the last writer in the Hamlin Garland, E. W. Howe, Joseph Kirkland line of development. Aside from its probable worth as social history, Weeds is highly readable. Readers will find here plausible people in a beautifully-handled realistic setting. Interesting to note, the novel’s strongest supporter heretofore was Sinclair Lewis, who was engaged to the author. In the opinion of Professor Bruccoli, Weeds is as good as Main Street.… (more)
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Weeds, first published in 1923, rediscovered in the 1970s, has never been in the literary spotlight. When first published, it quickly went out of print. Efforts by small presses in the 1970s and 1990s to reintroduce the work have kept it alive, but it still remains largely unnoticed.
That's unfortunate, because Kelley has written a strangely riveting novel with such dynamic characters. Our protagonist, Judith, is unique and strong-willed, a woman with considerable potential who is constantly fighting against poverty and societal expectations. Perhaps what makes this story stand out from others like it is that Judith marries the one man in the region who is not only considerate, but "grants" her the freedoms she asks for. He's certainly not the drunk and abusive misogynist the reader likely expects. Despite this, Judith eventually learns that marriage and motherhood were not what she expected them to be, and refuses to be confined to such roles. These distinctions in these two characters build upon a story with multiple dimensions.
In the end, this story doesn't build up to much of a conclusion, and this is perhaps the novel's greatest weakness. Despite this potential misstep, Weeds is a wonderful look at the brilliance of one woman, struggling against the current in 1920s rural America.