SARAH E. FARRO’S TRUE LOVE (1891): PLAGIARIST RECONFIGURATIONS OF ELLEN WOOD’S THE SHADOW OF ASHLYDYAT (1863)

Abstract

In 1891 Sarah E. Farro was hailed as “the first negro novelist” with the publication of her novel True Love, a story featuring white English characters set in England. Scholars have believed that Farro’s text was ignored because it features no black characters and does not deal with racial issues. In contrast to these opinions, I contend that True Love is an unacknowledged but meticulous reworking of The Shadow of Ashlydyat (1863), the celebrated Victorian sensation novel by Ellen Wood. Farro’s plagiarism together with her deployment of a raceless plot far from being an aberration is an act freighted with a titanic self-affirmation and literary ambition that may have ultimately condemned her to literary ostracism.