Wings in My Tussle With the Devil

Dublin Core

Title

Wings in My Tussle With the Devil

Subject

Throughout My Tussle With the Devil, the only illustration that can be found is the gold wings that adorn the front cover and the endings of sections within the text. Wings are a very important symbol in spiritualism and spirit writing because of their allusion to the afterlife and those who have passed on. This illustration is appropriate within this text because it symbolizes O. Henry's newfound way of being, as a spirit with wings communicating with A.H. Pratt. There is no listed illustrator in the text, further keeping the wings as an ominous symbol separated from the human world. These wings are found in gold on the front cover, giving them more of a divine and important look to them, which makes sense considering how much A.H. Pratt looked up to O. Henry.

The wings also seem to be held up or attached to another symbol, which looks like a backwards C, the letter O, and a forward facing C all attached by a line. These could possibly be latin letters, or this could just be an attached mount for the wings to place them seemingly more on a pedestal to further their significance. These letters could also, however, be the letter H with an O in the middle of it, which are the initials of O. Henry. This would also be appropriate because he is the spirit with the wings that contributed to this work.

While there is no listed illustrator, there is some speculation that the wings could possibly be the work of Mildred Parma, the wife of A.H. Pratt. She wrote a foreword in the text, and is said to have helped Pratt with the creation of the book, so it is very likely that she also contributed the main illustration found throughout the text.

Creator

A.H. Pratt

Source

My Tussle With the Devil

Publisher

New York: I.M.Y Company

Date

1918

Contributor

Illustrator Unknown

Rights

I.M.Y Company

Files

kristenbook4 (2).jpg
Image-1-2.jpg

Citation

A.H. Pratt, “Wings in My Tussle With the Devil,” Manhattan College Omeka , accessed September 16, 2024, https://omeka-pilot.manhattan.edu/items/show/36.