The Essential Margaret Fuller

by Margaret Fuller, Jeffrey Steele (Editor)

The leading feminist intellectual of her day, Margaret Fuller has been remembered for her groundbreaking work, Woman in the Nineteenth Century, which recharted the gender roles of nineteenth-century men and women. In this new collection, the full range of her literary career is represented from her earliest poetry to her final dispatch from revolutionary Italy. For the first time, the complete texts of Woman in the Nineteenth Century and Summer on the Lakes are printed together, along with generous selections from Fuller's Dial essays, New York essays, Italian dispatches, and unpublished journals. Special features are the complete text of Fuller's famous "Autobiographical Romance" (never before reprinted in its entirety) and nineteen of her poems, edited from her manuscripts. All of Fuller's major texts are completely annotated, with special attention to her literary and historical sources, as well as her knowledge of American Indian culture, mythology, and the Bible Jeffrey Steele's introduction provides an important revision of Fuller's biography and literary career, tracing the growth of her feminism and her development into one of America's preeminent social critics. No other writer of Fuller's day could match the range of her experience. Growing up in the world of Boston intellectuals, she was the close friend of the Alcotts, Emerson, Hawthorne, and Thoreau. But she also traveled adventurously to the western frontier, canoed down rapids with Chippewa Indians, visited the outcast and the poor in New York's institutions and prisons, and experienced the rigors of war during the bombardment of Rome. As a whole, this anthology provides the material to understand one of the most fascinating nineteenth-century American women writers.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Philosophy, Feminism, Classics, Biography, Essays

536 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1992

About the author

Sarah Margaret Fuller Ossoli, more commonly known as Margaret Fuller, (May 23, 1810 – July 19, 1850) was a journalist, critic and women's rights activist associated with the American transcendental movement. She was the first full-time female book reviewer in journalism. Her book Woman in the Nineteenth Century is considered the first major feminist work in the United States.

Born Sarah Margaret Fuller in an area of Cambridge, Massachusetts, she was given a substantial early education by her father, Timothy Fuller. She later had more formal schooling and became a teacher before, in 1839, she began overseeing what she called "conversations": discussions among women meant to compensate for their lack of access to higher education. She became the first editor of the transcendental publication The Dial in 1840 before joining the staff of the New York Tribune under Horace Greeley in 1844. By the time she was in her 30s, Fuller had earned a reputation as the best-read person in New England, male or female, and became the first woman allowed to use the library at Harvard College. Her seminal work, Woman in the Nineteenth Century, was published in 1845. A year later, she was sent to Europe for the Tribune as its first female correspondent. She soon became involved with the revolution in Italy and allied herself with Giuseppe Mazzini. She also met Giovanni Ossoli, with whom she had a child. All three members of the family died in a shipwreck off Fire Island, New York, traveling back to the United States in 1850. Fuller's body was never recovered.

Fuller was an advocate of women's rights and, in particular, women's education and the right to employment. She also encouraged many other reforms in society, including prison reform and the emancipation of slaves in the United States. Many other advocates for women's rights and feminism, including Susan B. Anthony, cite Fuller as a source of inspiration. Many of her contemporaries, however, were not supportive, including her former friend Harriet Martineau, who said that Fuller was a talker rather than an activist. Shortly after Fuller's death her importance faded; the editors who prepared her letters to be published, believing her fame would be short-lived, were not concerned about accuracy and censored or altered much of her words before publication.

Reviews

[Martha Anne Davidson · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Essential Margaret Fuller (1992) is a valuable collection of her writings. The anthology, part of the American Women Writers series from Rutgers University Press, is edited by Jeffrey Steele, a Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and an officer in the Margaret Fuller Society. Fuller's major published works, Summer on the Lakes (1844) and Woman in the Nineteenth Century (1845), comprise the foundation for the edition, which also includes a selection of her publications in the Transcendentalist journal the Dial and in Horace Greeley's New-York Tribune. Steele shares a number of Fuller's more personal writings from letters and journals and a wonderful section on Fuller's poetry. The collection is well-rounded. Being able to read the selected works together in a single volume made for a fulfilling reading experience. Steele's Introduction and Chronology provide biographical and critical information that enriches the reading. Steele's extensive annotations for each of the works help to make the readings accessible to students and other first-time readers but also provide remarkable insights for Fuller scholarship more generally. In her book review of her friend Ralph Waldo Emerson's Essays: Second Series, Fuller challenges her readers: "The only true criticism of these, or any good books, may be gained by making them the companions of our lives." Jeffrey Steele has given us just such a companion in his edition of Margaret Fuller's writings.

[Kit · Rating 4 out of 5]

Woman in the Nineteenth Century is terrific. Some of the travel writing is less interesting.

[Kristi · Rating 5 out of 5]

While I did not have the leisure to read the whole volume yet, I will certainly be returning to it with pleasure. This is an essential volume for any reader who is interested in Transcendentalism, American literature, or nineteenth century women's history -- as well as readers enthralled with the brilliant Margaret Fuller. Following a lengthy introduction to Fuller's life and work by Fuller scholar Jeffery Steele, is a collection of Fuller gems. Included with a rare selection of Fuller's early works is her "Autobiographical Romance," along with a selection of poetry and her Tribune reviews and essays. However, the highlight of the collection is Fuller's "Summer on the Lakes" and the complete and unabridged "Woman in the Nineteenth Century," together in one volume! It is unusual for the latter to appear complete; it is generally excerpted or abridged. Wonderful collection!

[Elizabeth]

trade paper average condition

[Anne C. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like the first part Autobiographical Romance and last part Essays/ Reviews best. Her account of her travels to the Great Lakes and Indian Country illustrated her gritty and adventurous personality, but felt long despite her astute observations. What a remarkable woman.