A Fanny Fern Reader

Selections by a Pioneering Nineteenth-Century Woman Journalist

Fanny Fern, Emily E. VanDette

• Publisher: SUNY Press
• Year: 2024
• ISBN:
  9781438498539
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: North American Literary Collections
• Index: Literature

In the middle of the nineteenth century, the highest paid and most famous newspaper writer in the US was a woman known to the world as Fanny Fern, the nom de plume of Sara Payson Willis. A Fanny Fern Reader features a selection of Fern's columns, mostly from her years as a weekly columnist for the New York Ledger, along with an introduction that shares the remarkable story of Fern's perseverance and success as a woman in a male-dominated profession. For readers in her own time, Fern's frank and unbridled social commentary and boldly satirical voice made her a household name. Fern's subversive and witty commentary about social mores, gender roles, childhood, authorship, and family life transcend time and continue to resonate with and entertain readers today. A Fanny Fern Reader is the most extensive collection of Fern's newspaper writings to date and includes several works that have been out of print for over a century, making this author's writing on a wide range of issues accessible for readers within and outside of classrooms and academic settings.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Introduction
• I. “These are some of the annoyances of authors; but, verily, they have their rewards too”: On Authorship and Authors
• II. “Mr. Chairman, I rise to say, that there are no faults of sex; that there exist only faults of individuals”: On Society’s Rules and Roles for Men and Women
• III. “These are bold words; but they are needed words”: On Women’s Rights
• IV. “I wish I was mother to the whole of you!”: On Behalf of Children
• V. “How I longed to sit down in those little tents, and talk with those heroes of Gettysburg”: Select Commentary about the Civil War
• VI. “More than angelic are these soul-responses”: On Grief, Suffering, and Compassion
• VII. “New York, with all thy faults, I love thee still”: On Life in the City
• VIII. “Coats and trowsers have the best of it everywhere”: On Gendered Fashion
• IX. “What a pity all editors are not gentlemen”: On Newspapers and Editors
• X. “I am sick of flummery and nonsense and humbug and pretension of every kind”: On Pet Peeves, Nuisances, and Miscellaneous Grievances
• XI. “… there are days when it is simply blessing enough to be alive”: On Life’s Simple Pleasures
• Notes
• Works Cited and Select Bibliography
• Index
• Back Cover