A Fanny Fern Reader

Selections by a Pioneering Nineteenth-Century Woman Journalist

Fanny Fern, Emily E. VanDette

• Publisher: SUNY Press
• Year: 2024
• Print ISBN: 9781438498515, 9781438498522
• eBook ISBN: 9781438498539
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: North American History
• Index: Literature

The most complete collection of works by the nineteenth century's most famous and groundbreaking woman journalist.

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