Upton Sinclair

The Naturewoman Upton Sinclair

Publisher Marketing: "[...]Centre table; windows left, and chairs.] [At rise: ETHEL standing by table; a beautiful but rather frail girl of sixteen; opening a package containing photograph in frame.] ETHEL. Oceana! Oceana! [She gazes at it in rapture.] Oh, I wonder if she'll be as good as she is beautiful! She must be! Oceana! [To REMSON, an old, white-haired family servant, who enters with flowers in vase.] No message from my brother yet? REMSON. Nothing, Miss Ethel. ETHEL. Look at this, Remson. REMSON. [Takes photograph.] Is that your cousin, Miss Ethel? ETHEL. That's she. Isn't she lovely? REMSON. Yes, miss. Is that the way they dress in those parts? ETHEL. The natives don't even wear that much, Remson. REMSON. It must be right warm there, I fancy. ETHEL. Oh, yes... they never know what cold weather is. REMSON. What is the name of it, Miss Ethel? ETHEL. Maukuri-it's in the South Seas. REMSON. It seems like I've heard of cannibals in those parts, somewhere. ETHEL, Yes, in some of the groups. But this is just one little island by itself... nothing else for a hundred miles and more. REMSON. And she's lived there all this time, Miss Ethel? ETHEL. Fifteen years, Remson. REMSON. And no folks at all there?[...]." Contributor Bio:  Sinclair, Upton Upton Sinclair (1878-1968), novelist and journalist, is best known for his novel about the Chicago meatpacking industry, ""The Jungle"." A paperback edition of his ""I, Candidate for Governor"" is available from California. Jules Tygiel is the author of ""The Great Los Angeles Swindle: Oil, Stocks, and Scandal during the Roaring Twenties"" (paperback California, 1996) and ""The Great Experiment: Jackie Robinson and His Legacy"." He is Professor of History at San Francisco State University.