Two copies of transcription of a work of fiction that drew upon Chesnut's own life experiences; edited by Elisabeth Muhlenfeld as part of her graduate work toward a dissertation; transcribed from original manuscripts in the Williams-Chesnut-Manning papers. Although best known for her Civil War journals, first published in 1905, M.B. Chesnut was engaged throughout much of her life, particularly in her later years, in various other literary pursuits, including three attempts at writing novels. According to her biographer and editor of this transcription, Dr. E.S. Muhlenfeld, Mrs. Chesnut's work on her unpublished novels was "an exercise in writing and in dramatizing her experiences. As such, it served ... as apprentice work in preparation for her revision of the Civil War journals." This volume, Two Years ..., is important, however, for its largely autobiographical content, both in structure and in characterization. On verso of title page, Chesnut wrote: "The greater part of this is written from memory - Though I used my diary, of more than forty years ago, freely. But then no diary was possible in Legare St. My sister ... asked - Why not discribe Miss Stella's school also ... I have taken her advice." This novel represents Chesnut's attempt to blend actual events from her girlhood with a dramatic tale of romance and intrigue. The novel tells the story of Helen Newton, a young girl, who is removed from Madame Talvande's boarding school in Charleston, S.C., and taken with her family to a cotton plantation in Mississippi. There she becomes involved in a series of adventures which involve Sidney Howard, a young Princeton graduate with whom she had fallen in love in Charleston. After returning to school in Charleston, she learns of her father's death and goes back to Mississippi with her mother to sell the plantation. At the end of the novel, Helen Newton marries Sydney Howard. In short, the basic outline of this novel covers the period of Mary Boykin Miller's life from 1836 to 1840. The fictional trips to Mississippi were patterned directly on similar trips taken by the author in 1836 and 1838 as well as a later trip to Alabama with her sister Kate and the Williams family in 1859. Although there is no evidence, however, that James Chesnut (Sydney Howard's prototype), ever traveled to Mississippi prior to his marriage, many of the fictional characters in the novel were modeled upon members of the Miller family: Frank, also called Dan, was based on her brother Stephen; Constance or "Kitty" on her sister Catherine, also known as "Kitty"; Harriet or "Tatty" on her sister Sarah; and Madelaine Howard on her closest schoolgirl friend, Mary Serena Chesnut Williams. The novel's most vividly descriptive section, that dealing with Madame Talvande's school, is purely autobiographical. Young Mary Boykin Miller was enrolled in Madame Ann Marsan Talvande's French School for Young Ladies in 1835 and remained there intermittently until 1838. Likewise, Miss Stella was based on Stella Phelps, whose school in Camden, S.C., the author attended as a girl.
