Boston Marriage - Origin of The Term

Origin of The Term

The term Boston marriage was used by Henry James in The Bostonians (1886), a novel involving a long-term co-habiting relationship between two unmarried women, "New Women". The use of the term is thought to have persisted in New England for several decades. The term was less well known before the debut in 2000 of the David Mamet play of the same name. Many cite in particular the Maine novelist Sarah Orne Jewett and her companion Annie Adams Fields, widow of the editor of The Atlantic Monthly.

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