“A Woman, Awakening”: Mary MacLane in Butte, America with Lindsay Tran

Infamous during her lifetime but largely forgotten to history, writer and bohemian provocateur Mary MacLane had a complex relationship with Butte, the city that both formed and frustrated her as an artist. Her first confessional memoir, originally titled I Await the Devil’s Coming, was published in 1902 and became an international bestseller. Awash in overnight fame and fortune, MacLane left for Chicago and the East Coast to establish herself as a journalist and novelist. She returned to Butte in 1910, where she wrote a second memoir that was published in 1917. I, Mary MacLane, expanded upon the themes of loneliness, self-awareness, and creative expression that MacLane explored in her first book. Both her memoirs feature striking descriptions of Butte and illuminate MacLane’s feelings about the place and about herself.