Thank you for posting the results of your detective work! I always love these glimpses of the tightly knit world of the 19th century literary scene - sending the novel to Disraeli, who sent it to his publisher (this reminds me of Arthur Ransome sending Pamela Whitlock and Katharine Hull's The Far-Distant Oxus to his publisher in the 1930s), and Disraeli recommending the novel to tons of his correspondents because he likes it so much, and of COURSE The Atlantic published a letter about her.
The image of someone writing a novel sheet after sheet without one correction seems SO like the composition process at sixteen to me, but it's hard to imagine that she didn't go back and correct it at least a little later, especially since, as you say, some of the information about the Mendelssohns she couldn't have gotten until later. But this kind of inspired writing is also SUCH a 19th century genius trope that I could see the friend stretching the truth a bit in order to boost Sheppard's literary reputation, especially if the first draft was written more or less like that. A few minor corrections later, the friend thinks, so what, that's hardly worth mentioning in her letter to The Atlantic!
I'm also envisioning Sheppard reading chapters to this admiring friend as she wrote them. Possibly the whole school was hanging onto this Mendelssohn fanfic.
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The image of someone writing a novel sheet after sheet without one correction seems SO like the composition process at sixteen to me, but it's hard to imagine that she didn't go back and correct it at least a little later, especially since, as you say, some of the information about the Mendelssohns she couldn't have gotten until later. But this kind of inspired writing is also SUCH a 19th century genius trope that I could see the friend stretching the truth a bit in order to boost Sheppard's literary reputation, especially if the first draft was written more or less like that. A few minor corrections later, the friend thinks, so what, that's hardly worth mentioning in her letter to The Atlantic!
I'm also envisioning Sheppard reading chapters to this admiring friend as she wrote them. Possibly the whole school was hanging onto this Mendelssohn fanfic.