Wikipedia:Today's featured article/requests/Rachel Dyer

Rachel Dyer

 * This is the archived discussion of the TFAR nomination for the article below. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as Wikipedia talk:Today's featured article/requests). Please do not modify this page.

The result was: scheduled for Today's featured article/October 5, 2022 by Jimfbleak - talk to me?  14:04, 8 September 2022 (UTC)



Rachel Dyer is a Gothic historical novel by American writer John Neal. Published in 1828 in Maine, it is the first bound novel about the Salem witch trials. It garnered little critical notice in its day but influenced works by more well-known authors. It is best remembered for the American literary nationalist essay, "Unpublished Preface", that precedes the story. Following a darkly poetic narrative, the story centers around historical figure George Burroughs and fictional witch hysteria victim, Rachel Dyer. With about two-thirds of the story taking place in the courtroom, it follows the trials of multiple alleged witches. Themes include justice, sexual frustration, mistreatment of American Indians by Puritans, the myth of national American unity in the face of pluralist reality, and republican ideals as an antidote for Old World precedent. The novel experiments with speech patterns, dialogue, and transcriptions of Yankee dialect that Neal hoped would come to characterize American literature.
 * Most recent similar article(s): Looking at the previous 2 months of recent TFAs, I see no articles about novels from any era. The most similar might be A Vindication of the Rights of Woman on July 2 because it is an English-language book published about 36 years earlier. The most recent TFA directly related to John Neal is likely The Yankee on March 30, 2022.
 * Main editors: Dugan Murphy
 * Promoted: August 9, 2022
 * Reasons for nomination: The article just passed FAC!
 * Support as nominator. Dugan Murphy (talk) 02:02, 10 August 2022 (UTC)
 * Support – ♠Vamí _IV†♠  23:28, 12 August 2022 (UTC)
 * Support Aoba47 (talk) 19:05, 14 August 2022 (UTC)
 * Support NØ 07:05, 15 August 2022 (UTC)