The Female Marine and Related Works: Narratives of Cross-Dressing and Urban Vice in America's Early Republic

by Daniel A. Cohen (Editor)

This is the first complete modern edition of The Female Marine , a fictional cross-dressing trilogy originally published between 1815 and 1818. Enormously popular among New England readers, the tale in various versions appeared in no fewer than nineteen editions over that brief four-year span. This new edition appends three other contemporary accounts of cross-dressing and urban vice which, together with The Female Marine , provide a unique portrayal of prostitution and interracial city life in early-nineteenth-century America.

The alternately racy and moralistic narrative recounts the adventures of a young woman from rural Massachusetts who is seduced by a false-hearted lover, flees to Boston, and is entrapped in a brothel. She eventually escapes by disguising herself as a man and serves with distinction on board the U.S. frigate Constitution during the War of 1812. After subsequent onshore adventures in and out of male dress, she is happily married to a wealthy New York gentleman.

In his introduction, Daniel A. Cohen situates the story in both its literary and historical contexts. He explains how the tale draws upon a number of popular Anglo-American literary genres, including the female warrior narrative, the sentimental novel, and the urban exposé. He then explores how The Female Marine reflects early-nineteenth-century anxieties concerning changing gender norms, the expansion of urban prostitution, the growth of Boston's African American community, and feelings of guilt aroused by New England's notoriously unpatriotic activities during the War of 1812.

Genres: History, Queer

216 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1997

About the author

Daniel A. Cohen is associate professor of history at Case Western Reserve University.

Reviews

[Kaelyn Ireland · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't even remember how exactly I found this gem of a book, but I'm glad I did. The novel is a fascinating peek into the early U.S. and, as Cohen points out in his introduction, reveals much about the history, politics, economics, and cultural attitudes about gender, race, sex work, military, and other topics, of the time. Cohen provides a lot of valuable context to help today's readers access the text and understand its significance in its own time, including details he learned through his own painstaking research. If you're like me and you grew up obsessed with Joan of Arc, Mulan, and other female war heroes real and fictitious, don't pass this one up.

[Sam (◕‿◕✿) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish these ladies were real <\3 but the ending was Meh. Definitely gives insight into how those acts were seen by the public. Bunch a prudes

[Anna B · Rating 2 out of 5]

this was very moralistic and preachy and reminded me a little bit of that movie "Reefer Madness"

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read most of this for a class over 2 years ago and am just now getting around to finishing the last section that wasn't assigned. I liked parts of it, ambivalent about others. Just wanted to finish it to get it off my "Currently reading" list :)