As an exception to the "damned mob of scribbling women," Hawthorne praised Fanny Fern's Ruth Hall for breaking the mold of the 19th century women displaying "female delicacy." Fern satirizes men's domination of women and children and exposes their economic and social victimization. Fern was also criticized for praising Whitman's Leaves of Grass.

Primary Works

Fern Leaves from Fanny's Portfolio, 1853; Ruth Hall, 1855; Rose Clark, 1856; Folly As It Flies, 1859.

Selected Bibliography

Berlant, Lauren. "The Female Woman: Fanny Fern and the Form of Sentiment." American Literary History 3.3 (Fall 1991): 429-54.

Desmond, Stewart E. "The Widow's Trials: The Life of Fanny Fern." DAI 49.11 (May 1989): 3362A.

Grasso, Linda. "Anger in the House: Fanny Fern's Ruth Hall and the Redrawing of Emotional Boundaries in Mid-19th Century America." Studies in the American Renaissance (1995): 251-61.

Hamilton, Kristie. "The Politics of Survival: Sara Parton's Ruth Hall and the Literature of Labor." Redefining the Political Novel: American Women Writers, 1797-1901. Ed. Sharon M. Harris. Knoxville: U of Tennessee P, 1995. 86-108.

Harris, Susan K. "Inscribing and Defining: The Many Voices of Fanny Fern's Ruth Hall." Style 22.4 (Wint 1988): 612-27.

Huf, Linda. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Woman: The Writer as Heroine in American Literature. NY: Ungar, 1983.

Peel, Sylvia. "Images of Men: Male Characters in Catherine Maria Sedgwick's 'Hope Leslie,' Caroline Kirkland's 'A New Home, Who'll Follow?', Fanny Fern's 'Ruth Hall,' and Elizabeth Stuart Phelps' 'The Story of Avis'." DAI 59.7 (Jan 1999): DA9841977. Degree granting institution: Texas Tech U, 1998.

Pettengill, Claire C. "Against Novels: Fanny Fern's Newspaper Fictions and the Reform of Print Culture." American Periodicals 6 (1996): 61-91.

Samuels, Shirley. ed. The Culture of sentiment: race, gender, and sentimentality in nineteenth century America. NY: Oxford UP, 1992. PS217 .S55 C85

Schmidt, Daniel W. "Writing a Self in The Coquette, Ruth Hall, and Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl." Nebraska English Journal 38.1 (Fall 1992): 13-24.

Stadler, Gustavus. "Obscene Sentiments: Reading, Effects, and Sentimental Form in the Work of Fanny Fern, Louisa May Alcott, and Henry James." DAI 58.10 (Apr 1998): DA9813598. Degree granting institution: Duke U, 1997.

Tongra-ar, Rapin. "Fanny Fern: A Social Critic in Nineteenth Century America." DAI 56.8 (Feb 1996): DA9543241. Degree granting institution: U of North Texas, 1995.

Tonkovich, Nicole. Domesticity with a Difference: The Nonfiction of Catharine Beecher, Sarah J. Hale, Fanny Fern, and Margaret Fuller. Jackson, MS: UP of Mississippi, 1997.

Walker, Nancy A. Fanny Fern. NY: Twayne, 1993. PS2523 .P9 Z95

Warren, Joyce. "Subversion versus Celebration: The Aborted Friendship of Fanny Fern and Walt Whitman." Patrons and Protegees: Gender, Friendship, and Writing in Nineteenth Century America. Ed. Shirley Marchalonis. New Brunswick: Rutgers UP, 1988. 59-95.

- - -. "Legacy Profile: Fanny Fern (1811-1872)." Legacy 2.2 (Fall 1985): 54-60.

- - -. "Fanny Fern (Sara Payson Willis Parton) (1811-1872)." Nineteenth Century American Women Writers: A Bio Bibliographical Critical Sourcebook. Eds. Denise Knight and Emmanuel Nelson. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1997. 123-30.

- - -. Fanny Fern: an independent woman. New Brunswick: Rutgers UP, 1992. PS2523 .P9 Z97

- - -. ed. The (Other) American traditions: nineteenth century women writers. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers UP, 1993. PS147 .O85

- - -. "Uncommon Discourse: Fanny Fern and the New York Ledger." Periodical Literature in Nineteenth Century America. Eds. Kenneth Price and Susan Smith. Charlottesville: UP of Virginia, 1995. 51-68.

- - -. "Text and Context in Fanny Fern's Ruth Hall: From Widowhood to Independence." Joinings and Disjoinings: The Significance of Marital Status in Literature. Eds. JoAnna Mink and Janet Ward. Bowling Green, OH: Popular, 1991. 67-76.

- - -. ed. The Literature of Impoverishment: The Women Local Colorists in America, 1865-1914. New Brunswick: Rutgers UP, 1986.

Wood, Ann D. "The 'Scribbling Women' and Fanny Fern: Why Women Wrote." American Quarterly 23 (1971): 3-24.

Wright, Elizabethada A. "Fern Seeds: The Rhetorical Strategy of ( (Grata) Sara (h) Payson Willis Eldredge Farrington Parton), A.K.A. Fanny Fern." DAI 59.2 (Aug 1998): DA9823691. Degree granting institution: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 1997.

MLA Style Citation of this Web Page:

Reuben, Paul P. "Chapter 3: Early Nineteenth Century - Fanny Fern." PAL: Perspectives in American Literature- A Research and Reference Guide. WWW URL: http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap3/fern.html (provide page date or date of your login).   

| Top | Back | Chap 3 | Alphabetical List | Contents | PAL Home | Literature | Home |