Woman in the Nineteenth Century and Other Writings (Oxford World's Classics) [Paperback]

Margaret Fuller (Author), Donna Dickenson (Editor)

Book Description

Series: Oxford World's Classics | Publication Date: April 7, 1994

Margaret Fuller has been identified by Elaine Showalter as the "Dark Lady of the American Renaissance", the emblematic woman of her time. "Woman in the Nineteeth Century" (1845), published to popular success and scurrilous criticism from opponents of the nascent women's movement, sold out within a week. Yet, although her contemporaries, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, judged that Fuller "possessed more influence upon the thought of American women than any woman previous to her time", this major work has not been widely available to modern readers before now. Instead, what has been best known is the "Margaret myth" promulgated after her early death by shipwreck. Thus Fuller's erstwhile friend Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote: "She was a great humbug...providence was kind in putting her on board that fated ship." This edition gives modern readers the chance to judge the importance of Fuller's achievements for themselves. Ranging widely from the woman question to the European revolutionary movement in which Fuller played a direct part, her thought pre-figures important themes in modern feminism, particularly the idea of women's "separate voice". Donna Dickenson is the author of "Margaret Fuller: Writing a Woman's Life".

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Would inspire great discussion and debate in class."--Dr. Yolanda Romero, North Lake College

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (April 7, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0192830856
• ISBN-13: 978-0192830852
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 4.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #170,953 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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5.0 out of 5 stars THE FIRST "FEMINIST" BOOK BY AN AMERICAN WOMAN, September 7, 2011

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Steven H. Propp (Sacramento, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Woman in the Nineteenth Century and Other Writings (Oxford World's Classics) (Paperback)

Sarah Margaret Fuller Ossoli, commonly known as Margaret Fuller, (1810-1850) was an American journalist, critic, and women's rights advocate associated with the American transcendentalism movement. She was the first full-time American female book reviewer in journalism. This book is considered the first major feminist work in the United States.

She wrote in the Preface to this 1845 book, "By Man I mean both man and woman; these are the two halves of one thought... I believe that the development of one cannot be effected without that of the other. My highest wish is that this should be rationally apprehended, and the conditions of life and freedom recognized as the same for the daughters and sons of time; twin exponents of a divine thought. I solicit a sincere and patient attention from those who open the following pages at all. I solicit of women that they will lay it to heart to ascertain what is for them the liberty of law... From men I ask a noble and earnest attention to anything that can be offered on this great and still obscure subject, such as I have met from many with whom I stand in private relations."

Here are some additional quotations from the book:

"What woman needs is not as a woman to act or rule, but as a nature to grow, as an intellect to discern, as a soul to live freely and unimpeded, to unfold such powers as were given her when we left our common home." (Pg. 20)
"Mysticism, which may be defined as a brooding soul of the world, cannot fail of its oracular promise as to woman. 'The mothers'---'The mother of all things,' are expressions of thought which lead the mind towards this side of universal growth." (Pg. 66)
"Male and female represent the two sides of the great radical dualism. But, in fact, they are perpetually passing into one another. Fluid hardens to solid, solid rushes to fluid. There is no wholly masculine man, no purely feminine woman." (Pg. 75)
"The lot of woman is sad. She is constituted to expect and need a happiness that cannot exist on earth. She must stifle such aspirations within her secret heart, and fit herself, as well as she can, for a life of resignations and consolations." (Pg. 105)
"Now there is no woman, only an overgrown child." (Pg. 117)