Fanny Fern

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Fanny Fern, Nathaniel Hawthorne said, "writes as if the devil was in her... When [women] throw off the restraints of decency, and come before the public stark naked, as it were - then their books are sure to possess character and value." His praise was inspired by Fern's bestselling autobiographical novel, Ruth Hall , which, like everything else this much-admired Boston journalist wrote, both scandalized and delighted America with its humor, humanity, and incisive critique of social mores - particularly those governing the position of women. By 1855, Fern had won widespread popular acclaim not only for Ruth Hall but also for her newspaper writing. That year she became the nation's first female newspaper columnist, signing on as a weekly contributor to the New York Ledger, a post she kept until her death in 1872. Her columns were collected in celebrated volumes beginning with Fern Leaves from Fanny's Portfolio and continuing through Ginger Snaps and Caper-Sauce - titles that capture Fern's pungent wit. As Nancy A. Walker demonstrates in this study of Fern's writings, the author's themes, as well as the financial independence she achieved, ran counter to the norms of her day. In her reading of Ruth Hall, Walker notes the many connections between Fern's own life and the fate of her singularly independent heroine, who refuses to let herself be rescued by marriage. Throughout Fern's writings, Walker notes vivid descriptions of everyday life among a variety of social classes and ethnic groups, and in so doing reveals Fern as an important forerunner of late nineteenth-century realism. She notes the rejection of hypocrisy and pretense that not only informed Fern's own work but also made her a champion of Whitman at a time when Leaves of Grass was considered vulgar. Coming at a time when renewed interest in Fanny Fern has caused much of her work to be re-issued, Walker's lively study is a welcome introduction to a unique voice whose messages b