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Woman in the Nineteenth Century
A woman of many gifts, Margaret Fuller (1810–1850) is most aptly remembered as America's first true feminist. In her brief yet fruitful life, she was variously author, editor, literary and social critic, journalist, poet, and revolutionary. She was also one of the few female members of the prestigious Transcendentalist movement, whose ranks included Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Elizabeth Palmer Peabody, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and many other prominent New England intellectuals of the day. As co-editor of the transcendentalist journal, The Dial , Fuller was able to give voice to her groundbreaking social critique on woman's place in society, the genesis of the book that was later to become Woman in the Nineteenth Century . Published in 1843, this essay was entitled "The Great Man versus Men, Woman versus Women."
First published in book form in 1845, Woman in the Nineteenth Century was correctly perceived as the controversial document that it receiving acclaim and achieving popular success in some quarters (the first printing sold out within a week), at the same time that it inspired vicious attacks from opponents of the embryonic women's movement. In this book, whose style is characterized by the trademark textual diversity of the transcendentalists, Fuller articulates values arising from her passionate belief in justice and equality for all humankind, with a particular focus on women. Although her notion of basic rights certainly includes those of an educational, economic, and legal nature, it is intellectual expansion and changes in the prevailing attitudes towards women (by men and women) that Fuller cherishes far above the superficial manifestations of liberation. A classic of feminist thought that helped bring about the Seneca Falls Women's Convention three years after its publication, Woman in the Nineteenth Century inspired her contemporaries Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony to speak of Fuller as possessing "more influence upon the thought of American women than any woman previous to her time."
First published in book form in 1845, Woman in the Nineteenth Century was correctly perceived as the controversial document that it receiving acclaim and achieving popular success in some quarters (the first printing sold out within a week), at the same time that it inspired vicious attacks from opponents of the embryonic women's movement. In this book, whose style is characterized by the trademark textual diversity of the transcendentalists, Fuller articulates values arising from her passionate belief in justice and equality for all humankind, with a particular focus on women. Although her notion of basic rights certainly includes those of an educational, economic, and legal nature, it is intellectual expansion and changes in the prevailing attitudes towards women (by men and women) that Fuller cherishes far above the superficial manifestations of liberation. A classic of feminist thought that helped bring about the Seneca Falls Women's Convention three years after its publication, Woman in the Nineteenth Century inspired her contemporaries Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony to speak of Fuller as possessing "more influence upon the thought of American women than any woman previous to her time."
132 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1845
About the author
Margaret Fuller
149 books130 followersSarah 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.
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.
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April 5, 2012
I had to read some of Margaret Fuller's work after finishing The Lives of Margaret Fuller recently. Since I'm an ardent feminist, I decided to start with Women in the Nineteenth Century.
I'll admit, it's difficult to read. Fuller was highly educated and brings in many references to classical works and current events that meant I often had to stop reading to check a reference on Wikipedia. Even with the added knowledge, her writing style is high 19th century style, with outdated words and phrases that make it hard to plow through by a modern reader. It reminded me of a section from her biography (referenced above) describing outsiders of her circle poking fun at the Transcendentalists: "They read Dante in the original Italian, Goethe in the original German, and Fuller in the original English."
Style aside...
The first portion of this book is all foundational, where Fuller describes ideals of women in general through the ages, and gives examples of women living outside prescribed norms and their fates.
The real meat is in the last portion, where she lays aside the work of others and actually speaks to the reader. She argues that by making women the property of men, society is not only depriving women of their full potential, but also men of having equal partners. Additionally, she decries the idea that there are feminine qualities and masculine qualities, and that men are not allowed to be feminine and women are not allowed to be masculine. Particularly illustrating is her example of the girl who shows interest in carpentry tools but is told that such an endeavor is not intended for her sex. As Fuller declares, "Let there be women sea captains!" if the women are so inclined.
I think the next step is to find more of Fuller's work, preferably the essays she wrote for the Dial or her journalistic endeavors, and follow her train of thought.
I'll admit, it's difficult to read. Fuller was highly educated and brings in many references to classical works and current events that meant I often had to stop reading to check a reference on Wikipedia. Even with the added knowledge, her writing style is high 19th century style, with outdated words and phrases that make it hard to plow through by a modern reader. It reminded me of a section from her biography (referenced above) describing outsiders of her circle poking fun at the Transcendentalists: "They read Dante in the original Italian, Goethe in the original German, and Fuller in the original English."
Style aside...
The first portion of this book is all foundational, where Fuller describes ideals of women in general through the ages, and gives examples of women living outside prescribed norms and their fates.
The real meat is in the last portion, where she lays aside the work of others and actually speaks to the reader. She argues that by making women the property of men, society is not only depriving women of their full potential, but also men of having equal partners. Additionally, she decries the idea that there are feminine qualities and masculine qualities, and that men are not allowed to be feminine and women are not allowed to be masculine. Particularly illustrating is her example of the girl who shows interest in carpentry tools but is told that such an endeavor is not intended for her sex. As Fuller declares, "Let there be women sea captains!" if the women are so inclined.
I think the next step is to find more of Fuller's work, preferably the essays she wrote for the Dial or her journalistic endeavors, and follow her train of thought.
February 28, 2012
I find it amusing that this was written in the nineteenth century. It is now the twenty-first century and we still have not achieved everything Margaret Fuller wrote about in this essay.
This essay is about Feminism. Feminism is the radical notion that women are people, just like everyone else, and should be treated as such.
This essay is about Feminism. Feminism is the radical notion that women are people, just like everyone else, and should be treated as such.
December 27, 2017
Margaret Fuller (1810-1850) was one of the earliest American feminist writers. She was also the coeditor of the Transcendentalist journal, The Dial. This book, first published in 1845, is an expanded edition of an essay written in 1843. It's short, but pretty dense and wide-ranging, covering a lot of historical and philosophical ground. It's hard to tell sometimes which parts of the essays are central to her argument and which are tangents, but I have selected some of my favorite parts below.
"Man no longer paints his proper nature in some form, and says, 'Prometheus had it; it is God-like;' but "Man must have it; it is human." However disputed by many, however ignorantly used, or falsified by those who do receive it, the fact of an universal, unceasing revelation has been too clearly stated in words to be lost sight of in thought; and sermons preached from the text, 'Be ye perfect,' are the only sermons of a pervasive and deep-searching influence. But, among those who meditate upon this text, there is a great difference of view as to the way in which perfection shall be sought." (She goes on to describe three different approaches to seeking wisdom - intellectual activity; life experience; and contemplation)
"A better comment could not be made on what is required to perfect Man, and place him in that superior position for which he was designed, than by the interpretation of Bacon upon the legends of the Syren coast "When the wise Ulysses passed," says he, "he caused his mariners to stop their ears, with wax, knowing there was in them no power to resist the lure of that voluptuous song. But he, the much experienced man, who wished to be experienced in all, and use all to the service of wisdom, desired to hear the song that he might understand its meaning. Yet, distrusting his own power to be firm in his better purpose, he caused himself to be bound to the mast, that he might be kept secure against his own weakness. But Orpheus passed unfettered, so absorbed in singing hymns to the gods that he could not even hear those sounds of degrading enchantment."
"Human beings are not so constituted that they can live without expansion. If they do not get it in one way, they must in another, or perish."
"This author, beginning like the many in assault upon bad institutions, and external ills, yet deepening the experience through comparative freedom, sees at last that the only efficient remedy must come from individual character. These bad institutions, indeed, it may always be replied, prevent individuals from forming good character, therefore we must remove them. Agreed; yet keep steadily the higher aim in view. Could you clear away all the bad forms of society, it is vain, unless the individual begin to be ready for better."
"Another sign of the times is furnished by the triumphs of Female Authorship. These have been great, and are constantly increasing. Women have taken possession of so many provinces for which men had pronounced them unfit, that, though these still declare there are some inaccessible to them, it is difficult to say just where they must stop."
"Man no longer paints his proper nature in some form, and says, 'Prometheus had it; it is God-like;' but "Man must have it; it is human." However disputed by many, however ignorantly used, or falsified by those who do receive it, the fact of an universal, unceasing revelation has been too clearly stated in words to be lost sight of in thought; and sermons preached from the text, 'Be ye perfect,' are the only sermons of a pervasive and deep-searching influence. But, among those who meditate upon this text, there is a great difference of view as to the way in which perfection shall be sought." (She goes on to describe three different approaches to seeking wisdom - intellectual activity; life experience; and contemplation)
"A better comment could not be made on what is required to perfect Man, and place him in that superior position for which he was designed, than by the interpretation of Bacon upon the legends of the Syren coast "When the wise Ulysses passed," says he, "he caused his mariners to stop their ears, with wax, knowing there was in them no power to resist the lure of that voluptuous song. But he, the much experienced man, who wished to be experienced in all, and use all to the service of wisdom, desired to hear the song that he might understand its meaning. Yet, distrusting his own power to be firm in his better purpose, he caused himself to be bound to the mast, that he might be kept secure against his own weakness. But Orpheus passed unfettered, so absorbed in singing hymns to the gods that he could not even hear those sounds of degrading enchantment."
"Human beings are not so constituted that they can live without expansion. If they do not get it in one way, they must in another, or perish."
"This author, beginning like the many in assault upon bad institutions, and external ills, yet deepening the experience through comparative freedom, sees at last that the only efficient remedy must come from individual character. These bad institutions, indeed, it may always be replied, prevent individuals from forming good character, therefore we must remove them. Agreed; yet keep steadily the higher aim in view. Could you clear away all the bad forms of society, it is vain, unless the individual begin to be ready for better."
"Another sign of the times is furnished by the triumphs of Female Authorship. These have been great, and are constantly increasing. Women have taken possession of so many provinces for which men had pronounced them unfit, that, though these still declare there are some inaccessible to them, it is difficult to say just where they must stop."
January 26, 2019
I had so very much hoped to be able to write a positive review of this rather lamentable book by Margaret Fuller who is a member of the great pantheon of literary freedom fighters that includes Byron, Mickiewicz, André Malraux, Ernest Hemingway, Martha Gellhorn and others. Margaret Fuller was a New England transcendentalist and journalist who operated a hospital for Garibaldi's troops during the Second Italian War of Independence . On the return voyage to the United States she died tragically along with her child when her boat sank. She was only forty years old.
Fuller will go into history as a person whose writing did not match her greatness as a person. "Woman in the Nineteenth Century" provides a dreadful literary legacy. The Norton Edition which I read cites a contemporary critic who writes: "Nothing is or can be less artistic than the book before us which, properly speaking, is no book but a long talk on matters and things in general, and men and women in particular. It has neither beginning, middle , nor end and may be read backwards as well as forward, and from the centre outwards each way, without affecting the continuity of the thought and the succession of ideas." (p. 213) By using this review, the Norton Editors are presumably setting the stage for the professor who is teaching the book to launch a brilliant defense of it. The gist of the argument offered to educators is that Fuller, a disciple of Waldo Emerson, has developed Emerson's ideas on human nature in an interestesting manner in "Woman in the Nineteenth Century." Good luck to educators with this line of defense. The book stinks.
Fuller will go into history as a person whose writing did not match her greatness as a person. "Woman in the Nineteenth Century" provides a dreadful literary legacy. The Norton Edition which I read cites a contemporary critic who writes: "Nothing is or can be less artistic than the book before us which, properly speaking, is no book but a long talk on matters and things in general, and men and women in particular. It has neither beginning, middle , nor end and may be read backwards as well as forward, and from the centre outwards each way, without affecting the continuity of the thought and the succession of ideas." (p. 213) By using this review, the Norton Editors are presumably setting the stage for the professor who is teaching the book to launch a brilliant defense of it. The gist of the argument offered to educators is that Fuller, a disciple of Waldo Emerson, has developed Emerson's ideas on human nature in an interestesting manner in "Woman in the Nineteenth Century." Good luck to educators with this line of defense. The book stinks.
August 6, 2016
Un livre qui analyse la place des femmes dans la société jusqu'au 19ème siècle, sous un angle assez plaisant, celui de la liberté individuelle à disposer de sa vie. Une manière habile de désamorcer tout réflexe sexiste chez le lecteur masculin comme c'est souvent le cas quand le débat se présente sous la forme d'une guerre des sexes. Il est aussi question du rôle des femmes dans la mythologie, des femmes de pouvoir à travers les siècles, du mariage et du couple sous toutes ses formes (hétéros), mais aussi des vieilles filles célibataires et de celles qui consacrent leurs vies à un absolu. J'crois qu'il existe une version enrichie de la traduction que j'ai lue mais celle-ci aborde déjà pas mal d'exemples concrets. Ca donne envie d'approfondir le sujet. Si je devais résumer le livre, je dirais qu'il donne soif de liberté pour soi et pour les autres.
February 23, 2019
I solicit of women that they will lay it to heart to ascertain what is for them the liberty of law...I ask them, if interested by these suggestions, to search their own experience and intuitions for better, and fill up with fit materials the trenches that hedge them in.This work is an odd mixture of very useful and very useless/borderline harmful prescriptions, which I suppose can be said of any substantially aged text that was written in pursuit of rationalizing an ideal. I didn't like it as much as I had hoped to, but it is still immensely wise in parts, even when Fuller doesn't follow through on the promising start of an intersectional idea and instead sinks down into wealthy-white-woman-centric oblivion by the end of the text. Very little of what she says can be stripped down for use in any queer or postcolonial sense, but she does hit upon some vital truths that even today are neither taken as law nor taken for granted and thus bear repeating until either those in power are made to acquiesce or ideals overthrow those obstinately remaining in bad faith out of power. Fuller had a tempestuous existence that cut short her life far too soon, and I can only wonder whether, had she lived past her forties, whether she would have matured to a fuller, more equitable definition of her vision of social justice as her, admittedly truncated, melding of feminism and anti-slavery promises, or would she have sunk like a Wordsworth after accomplishing so early what proved to be her best work.
Let it not be said, wherever there is energy or creative genius, 'She has a masculine mind.'
As to marriage, it has been inculcated on women, for centuries, that men have not only stronger passions than they, but of a sort that it would be shameful for them to share or even understand; that, therefore, they must "confide in their husbands," that is, submit implicitly to their will; that the least appearance of coldness or withdrawal, from whatever cause, in the wife is wicked, because liable to turn her husband's thoughts to illicit indulgence; for a man is so constituted that he must indulge his passions or die!What Fuller does, at least in parts at the beginning, that makes her stand out from the rightfully castigated crowd of racists, classists, and other flavors of bigots that made up the early US women's social justice movement is her acknowledgement of the variety of experiences women of differing races and social statuses were exposed to then much as they are now. This stance immeasurably strengthens her argument, or at least it would have had she stood by it till the very end. As it stands, she has some brilliant things to say about women's legal rights while married, women's education, and women's ultimate worth and justification of said worth in the eyes of humanity, but much of it is nearly drowned in a nauseating Christocentric mess that only worsens as the text progresses. Her insertion of Ancient Greek texts is interesting, but this ultimately draws more attention to the referred texts themselves than to her argument, especially when she practically states that human sacrifice was at any point an admirable feminine pursuit. Useful in moderation, then, but still worthy of more fame than she is given, as I am having a hard time remembering how I even came across this title and was inspired, and lucky, enough to add it and acquire a physical copy within a few short months of the adding. True, this is not a favorite, but there are a substantial number of kernels that I may build upon, and judging by Fuller's own introductory welcome, she would have agreed with my undertaking, if not so much with all that I had to say.
Ye cannot believe it, men; but the only reason why women ever assume what is more appropriate to you, is because you prevent them from finding out what is fit for themselves.
"Her mother did so before her" is no longer a sufficient excuse. Indeed, it was never received as an excuse to mitigate the severity of censure, but was adduced as a reason, rather, why there should be no effort made for reformation.I've been spending too much time outside my own century, judging by how sick I've grown of dealing with endless convoluted syntaxes and bygone historical references. Learn from history lest those in the future be forced to learn from you in ways most murderous and foul, so it's worth to dive down every once in a while, but I can't see myself reading any more of Fuller's texts. I have to wonder, though, what other feminists, proto or otherwise, lie off the beaten trail, as well as what the likelihood is of their works crossing my path in a cheaply acquirable form. Exciting, really, even if the results largely turn out to be a mix of gold and muck such as this one did. Know thyself to know the future; know the past to save yourself some time.
But a being of infinite scope must not be treated with an exclusive view to any one relation. Give the soul free course, let the organization, both of body and mind, be freely developed, and the being will be fit for any and every relation to which it may be called. The intellect, no more than the sense of hearing, is to be cultivated merely that Woman may be a more valuable companion to Man, but because the Power who gave a power, by its mere existence signifies that it must be brought out toward perfection.
Let us be wise, and not impede the soul. Let her work as she will. Let us have one creative energy, one incessant revelation. Let it take what form it will, and let us not bind it by the past to man or woman, black or white.
August 1, 2009
Reading this takes effort but is worthwhile. There are references to Latin and Greek classical works as well as writers of the time period that I have not read or read so long ago I didn't catch the allusion. Spent a great deal of time flipping to footnotes.
Anyone interested in development of feminism should read this book. If only to see how far things have come. A good part of the book is spent justifying education for women, not just higher education, education period. The writer points out how education will improve them as wives and mothers. She also tries to point out that there are roles for women outside that of wife and mother.
Anyone interested in development of feminism should read this book. If only to see how far things have come. A good part of the book is spent justifying education for women, not just higher education, education period. The writer points out how education will improve them as wives and mothers. She also tries to point out that there are roles for women outside that of wife and mother.
February 16, 2015
In "Woman in the Nineteenth Century", Margaret Fuller expresses beliefs typical to the American Transcendentalist movement; however she expands those beliefs to apply specifically to women’s rights. Fuller argues that women deserve a more comprehensive education than is often available in her time period. She holds that the environment in which a woman is raised contributes to her potential for intelligence as an adult. Like Emerson and Thoreau, Fuller uses nature imagery as a metaphor for human life, however her use of this metaphor explicitly includes women. Women, she writes, cannot possibly be equal to men until their education focuses not on cultivating marriageable qualities, but intellectual ones.
Fuller continues her expansion of Emerson’s and Thoreau’s Transcendentalist beliefs to connect non-conformism to women as well. She asserts that women have an innate ability to sense that nature connects all living beings. When this sense is channeled into individual genius, women are likely to want to become nonconformists because they see the pervasive influence of conformity in society. In Fuller’s view, women have more difficulty breaking free of the limitations Emerson and Thoreau see in society than men. Women of her time, Fuller writes, are more constrained by social expectations of decorum. In Fuller’s view, Nature is more powerful than all human enterprise, and, as she declares on page 69, “provides exceptions to every rule”. Nature does not establish gender roles: these are human limitations, and Fuller hopes that her society will one day be able to overcome them. In Nature, creativity is not inherent to one gender, but is a force which can be attained by all human beings.
Fuller continues her expansion of Emerson’s and Thoreau’s Transcendentalist beliefs to connect non-conformism to women as well. She asserts that women have an innate ability to sense that nature connects all living beings. When this sense is channeled into individual genius, women are likely to want to become nonconformists because they see the pervasive influence of conformity in society. In Fuller’s view, women have more difficulty breaking free of the limitations Emerson and Thoreau see in society than men. Women of her time, Fuller writes, are more constrained by social expectations of decorum. In Fuller’s view, Nature is more powerful than all human enterprise, and, as she declares on page 69, “provides exceptions to every rule”. Nature does not establish gender roles: these are human limitations, and Fuller hopes that her society will one day be able to overcome them. In Nature, creativity is not inherent to one gender, but is a force which can be attained by all human beings.
April 16, 2016
First written as an essay in 1843 (it would be revised and published as a book two years later) it would be easy to assume that little contained in its pages would have any relevance on the world in which we live today. While I would love to confirm those assumptions, sadly, I cannot. Despite all the ground gained for women's rights there is still much to be done and this book perfectly highlights that.
While the book contains predominately religious overtones that might put some people off (such as the suggestion that single women should not be looked down upon because they have the opportunity to be closer to God than married people), it is still a marvelous argument for the equality of men and women. It reasons that the path to true enlightenment will only take place when both sexes enjoy all the same rights and privileges.
While there are sure to be certain points that many readers will find distasteful in this modern age, it is a worthwhile read for any feminist. Exploring the ideas of our ancestors as they fought for equality is always an important reminder of how far we have come and how far we still need to go. It also, I think, gives us a special appreciation for life during that time.
While the book contains predominately religious overtones that might put some people off (such as the suggestion that single women should not be looked down upon because they have the opportunity to be closer to God than married people), it is still a marvelous argument for the equality of men and women. It reasons that the path to true enlightenment will only take place when both sexes enjoy all the same rights and privileges.
While there are sure to be certain points that many readers will find distasteful in this modern age, it is a worthwhile read for any feminist. Exploring the ideas of our ancestors as they fought for equality is always an important reminder of how far we have come and how far we still need to go. It also, I think, gives us a special appreciation for life during that time.
March 21, 2016
Man, this was difficult to get to. I am extremely familiar with Victorian literature and style, yet I found this agonising to read. Still, I found it relevant even today, and found myself nodding along to many passages.
November 8, 2022
This work of early feminism is Fuller’s expanded and edited version of her article “The Great Lawsuit” arguing that Women have souls and innate gifts that should receive a full range of growth and expression.
February 6, 2012
Her essay was better than Emerson's, but it is only a slight improvement since hers lacks structure and organization as well. I read it for class.
July 10, 2020
Margaret Fuller (1810-1850), writer, lecturer, public intellectual, feminist, and poet; born in Cambridgeport, MA, and died in ship accident off of Fire Island, NY; one of the most influential literary figures of her day.
--1839-1840 Fuller conduced a series of conversation "classes" for society women in Boston on social, literary, historical, and philosophical topics.
--1840-1843 Fuller edited the premiere journal of American transcendentalism, The Dial, which Emerson supposedly never compensated her for. Fuller didn't identify as a transcendentalist herself, although its influence is apparent in her work.
Her most famous work is Woman in the Nineteenth Century (1845), which was first published in The Dial in 1843 as "The Great Lawsuit. Men Versus Men, Women Versus Women," which Fuller then expanded into book form.
Fuller also wrote essays on the unfairness of marriage, abuses in asylums and prisons, and African-American and woman suffrage.
--1846 Fuller sailed to England and became the first American female foreign news correspondent. She met many famous writers include George Sand, Matthew Arnold, William Wordsworth, not yet (but they would meet later) Elizabeth Barrett because she was busy eloping with Robert (!!)
--1847 Fuller went to Rome where she met and fell in love with Marchese Ossoli
--1850 The couple sails home to American, but dies in a shipwreck. Fuller's manuscript on the Roman Republic was lost.
Woman in the Nineteenth Century (1845)
Synopsis: Recognized as the first American feminist work, Fuller spoke up for women's rights and equality with men; only then could man truly "transcend" to divine status, she argued. Fuller expresses an especially critical view of marriage, explaining that the idea of marriage, "has been inculcated on women for centuries, that men not only have stronger passions than [women], but of a sort that it would be shameful for them to share of even understand" (WNC). While feminists today would certainly find Fuller's arguments essentialist and her use of the metaphor of slavery to describe sexism lacking intersectional and ethical nuance, her writing offers one of the earliest American critiques of the social construction of gender: of course women will never be able to rise up because it's simply not in the 19C social construction of what a woman is and capable of doing. Fuller explicitly debunks the myth of female servitude with her examples of strong historic and mythical women, and her savvy argumentation and pluck.
Interesting thing #1: As was common in her day, Fuller uses a lot of head/heart/soul metaphors, especially in critiquing the faulty logic of the genders' separate spheres. I wonder if her argument that together man (head) and woman (heart), only as equals, will form a divine union, challenges the legacy of Cartesian dualism's privileging of the mind/soul over the body.
Imagining a hypothetical conversation between man, woman and the divine, man asks, "Am I not the head of my house?" to which the divine/the unnamed (standing in for Fuller) responds, "You are not the head of your wife. God has given her a mind of her own." Man responds, "I am the head and she is the heart." The divine answers, "God grant you play true to one another then. I suppose I am to be grateful that you did not say she was only the hand. If the head represses no natural pulse of the heart, there can be no question as to your giving your consent. Both will be of one accord and there needs but to present any question to get a full and true answer. There is no need of precaution, of indulgence, or consent. But our doubt is whether the heart does consent with the head, or only obeys its decrees with a passiveness that precludes the exercise of its natural powers, or a repugnance that turns sweet qualities to bitter, or a doubt that lays waste the fair occasions of life. It is to ascertain the truth, that we propose some liberating measures." (19)
Here and throughout, Fuller represents the male and female as "two sides of the radical dualism," perpetuating their essential distinctions between the rational man and the intuitive woman. Consciousness and the mind have traditionally belonged to the male, and intuition and spiritual to the female in Cartesian, but by melding them together in their union, Fuller challenges this foundational modern concept.
Interesting Thing 2: Fuller's conception of the body-mind-soul relationship is much more material than Emerson's (who doesn't really account for the body at all, other than eyeballs). Fuller was influenced by what we know term the major pseudosciences of her day, spiritualism and mesmerism (animal magnetism), which to her materialist approach to feminine individualism. Based in transcendentalism, Fuller's conception of mind-body-soul links the mind and body explicitly. Fuller even believed illness, particularly female "sickness [was] the frequent result of this overcharged existence" (WNC). Rachel A. Blumenthal in "Margaret Fuller's Medical Transcendentalism" argues that Fuller's conception of female madness grants women genius, fancy, and intellect, rather than disabling them further. While Blumenthal bases this major claim on little evidence from Fuller, she does provide insight into Fuller's possible influences from the ideas of physiological psychological and spiritualism of her day, which in sum offers an interesting, alternative account of the body-mind-spirit discourse offered by other canonical thinkers of her day.
--1839-1840 Fuller conduced a series of conversation "classes" for society women in Boston on social, literary, historical, and philosophical topics.
--1840-1843 Fuller edited the premiere journal of American transcendentalism, The Dial, which Emerson supposedly never compensated her for. Fuller didn't identify as a transcendentalist herself, although its influence is apparent in her work.
Her most famous work is Woman in the Nineteenth Century (1845), which was first published in The Dial in 1843 as "The Great Lawsuit. Men Versus Men, Women Versus Women," which Fuller then expanded into book form.
Fuller also wrote essays on the unfairness of marriage, abuses in asylums and prisons, and African-American and woman suffrage.
--1846 Fuller sailed to England and became the first American female foreign news correspondent. She met many famous writers include George Sand, Matthew Arnold, William Wordsworth, not yet (but they would meet later) Elizabeth Barrett because she was busy eloping with Robert (!!)
--1847 Fuller went to Rome where she met and fell in love with Marchese Ossoli
--1850 The couple sails home to American, but dies in a shipwreck. Fuller's manuscript on the Roman Republic was lost.
Woman in the Nineteenth Century (1845)
Synopsis: Recognized as the first American feminist work, Fuller spoke up for women's rights and equality with men; only then could man truly "transcend" to divine status, she argued. Fuller expresses an especially critical view of marriage, explaining that the idea of marriage, "has been inculcated on women for centuries, that men not only have stronger passions than [women], but of a sort that it would be shameful for them to share of even understand" (WNC). While feminists today would certainly find Fuller's arguments essentialist and her use of the metaphor of slavery to describe sexism lacking intersectional and ethical nuance, her writing offers one of the earliest American critiques of the social construction of gender: of course women will never be able to rise up because it's simply not in the 19C social construction of what a woman is and capable of doing. Fuller explicitly debunks the myth of female servitude with her examples of strong historic and mythical women, and her savvy argumentation and pluck.
Interesting thing #1: As was common in her day, Fuller uses a lot of head/heart/soul metaphors, especially in critiquing the faulty logic of the genders' separate spheres. I wonder if her argument that together man (head) and woman (heart), only as equals, will form a divine union, challenges the legacy of Cartesian dualism's privileging of the mind/soul over the body.
Imagining a hypothetical conversation between man, woman and the divine, man asks, "Am I not the head of my house?" to which the divine/the unnamed (standing in for Fuller) responds, "You are not the head of your wife. God has given her a mind of her own." Man responds, "I am the head and she is the heart." The divine answers, "God grant you play true to one another then. I suppose I am to be grateful that you did not say she was only the hand. If the head represses no natural pulse of the heart, there can be no question as to your giving your consent. Both will be of one accord and there needs but to present any question to get a full and true answer. There is no need of precaution, of indulgence, or consent. But our doubt is whether the heart does consent with the head, or only obeys its decrees with a passiveness that precludes the exercise of its natural powers, or a repugnance that turns sweet qualities to bitter, or a doubt that lays waste the fair occasions of life. It is to ascertain the truth, that we propose some liberating measures." (19)
Here and throughout, Fuller represents the male and female as "two sides of the radical dualism," perpetuating their essential distinctions between the rational man and the intuitive woman. Consciousness and the mind have traditionally belonged to the male, and intuition and spiritual to the female in Cartesian, but by melding them together in their union, Fuller challenges this foundational modern concept.
Interesting Thing 2: Fuller's conception of the body-mind-soul relationship is much more material than Emerson's (who doesn't really account for the body at all, other than eyeballs). Fuller was influenced by what we know term the major pseudosciences of her day, spiritualism and mesmerism (animal magnetism), which to her materialist approach to feminine individualism. Based in transcendentalism, Fuller's conception of mind-body-soul links the mind and body explicitly. Fuller even believed illness, particularly female "sickness [was] the frequent result of this overcharged existence" (WNC). Rachel A. Blumenthal in "Margaret Fuller's Medical Transcendentalism" argues that Fuller's conception of female madness grants women genius, fancy, and intellect, rather than disabling them further. While Blumenthal bases this major claim on little evidence from Fuller, she does provide insight into Fuller's possible influences from the ideas of physiological psychological and spiritualism of her day, which in sum offers an interesting, alternative account of the body-mind-spirit discourse offered by other canonical thinkers of her day.
February 17, 2024
unfortunate how topical this still is😞
Shelved as 'books-to-avoid'
June 11, 2020To say that: "There is no wholly masculine man, no purely feminine woman." is like saying there is no wholly canine dog, no purely feline cat and is sophistry at its worst.
October 17, 2011
Margaret Fuller wrote Woman in the Nineteenth Century in the 1840's, one of the first tracts to eloquently address the necessity of greater equality for women. It is interesting to read this having already read The Feminine Mystique and to see many of the same points being made, particularly the ones about how it is unfair for men to be stuck with uneducated, unfulfilled women as mothers and wives.
In the same breath that she advocates for women, Fuller advocates for the abolition of slavery. Like many of the Transcendentalists, if not all, Fuller's beliefs included equality for all people, regardless of race, creed, or gender. It was surprising to me how infrequently I found her views dated (once I acclimated to the Christian worldview she was writing from). Even in Mystique, I had a hard time swallowing her connection between homosexuality and overbearing mothers who live vicariously through their children. I guess Fuller has the upper-hand in that department because homosexuality plays no role in her work.
I love the "shame on you tone" of many portions of this book. It is, after all, addressed towards the men who in many ways expect as little of themselves morally as they expect of women intellectually. That Fuller looks not for great reforms (abolition is not the focus of this work), but for individual development as a means of bettering the world in honorable, and this text is a beautiful read once you get started on it.
In the same breath that she advocates for women, Fuller advocates for the abolition of slavery. Like many of the Transcendentalists, if not all, Fuller's beliefs included equality for all people, regardless of race, creed, or gender. It was surprising to me how infrequently I found her views dated (once I acclimated to the Christian worldview she was writing from). Even in Mystique, I had a hard time swallowing her connection between homosexuality and overbearing mothers who live vicariously through their children. I guess Fuller has the upper-hand in that department because homosexuality plays no role in her work.
I love the "shame on you tone" of many portions of this book. It is, after all, addressed towards the men who in many ways expect as little of themselves morally as they expect of women intellectually. That Fuller looks not for great reforms (abolition is not the focus of this work), but for individual development as a means of bettering the world in honorable, and this text is a beautiful read once you get started on it.
April 8, 2022
I'm a bit surprised that this doesn't seem to have much love on Goodreads. It's an important work in early American letters, and much of Fuller's ethos anticipates and encapsulates what were to become the peculiarly delicious paradoxes of the "American Renaissance": weird, wild language; mystical polemic, pulpit rhetoric, and revisionist history/mythology. Unfortunately, most of the essay is pretty much second-rate Emerson, which is not to downplay Fuller's skilled writing. It just doesn't hold much water as a piece of original thinking since it is simply a more explicit application of Emersonianism to the realm of social and domestic concerns. I love Fuller's pre-Marxist concern with both personal and societal reform, and many of the things she says will outrage modern feminists. She is also a well-read and astute critic who applies some fascinating interpretations to classic works. Overall, this definitely deserves to be studied, but it's also easy to see why it has never really fallen into favor even amongst the feminist crowd. If you're going to read early American literature that engages the Great Conversation from a "non white male" point of view, this is a much better option than, say, "Ruth Hall."
December 24, 2012
I have urged upon the sex self-subsistence in its two forms of self-reliance and self-impulse, because I believe them to be the needed means of the present juncture.
I have urged on woman independence of man, not that I do not think the sexes mutually needed by one another, but because in woman this fact has led to an excessive devotion, which has cooled love, degraded marriage, and prevented either sex from being what it should be to itself or the other.
I wish woman to live, first for God's sake. Then she will not make an imperfect man her god, and thus sink to idolatry. Then she will not take what is not fit for her from a sense of weakness and poverty. Then, if she finds what she needs in man embodied, she will know how to love, and be worthy of being loved.
By being more of a soul, she will not be less woman, for nature is perfected through spirit.
Now there is no woman, only an overgrown child.
I have urged on woman independence of man, not that I do not think the sexes mutually needed by one another, but because in woman this fact has led to an excessive devotion, which has cooled love, degraded marriage, and prevented either sex from being what it should be to itself or the other.
I wish woman to live, first for God's sake. Then she will not make an imperfect man her god, and thus sink to idolatry. Then she will not take what is not fit for her from a sense of weakness and poverty. Then, if she finds what she needs in man embodied, she will know how to love, and be worthy of being loved.
By being more of a soul, she will not be less woman, for nature is perfected through spirit.
Now there is no woman, only an overgrown child.
January 22, 2020
Re-reading Fuller in 2020, it is striking how modern and relevant her historical text remains. Amidst debates over national prosperity and disunion, Fuller makes a case for the equality of men and women as human beings and divine souls. She argues that women's rights to their own bodies, lives, and the protections of citizenship, as autonomous individuals, is not a matter of social consent, but one of human rights. Fuller's arguments go further to support gender fluidity. Despite the high-cultural metaphors and period language, Margaret Fuller's voice is one for the 21st century.
August 2, 2022
This is an interesting read because it's so ahead of it's time, but it's not an easy read. It is definitely in "old, flowery" language, and her points are also a bit abstract. It's not just "women should be more equal and independent, and should be allowed more independence and individual freedom," though it does say that and she goes into practical things. But it also talks a lot about divinity and inheriting the earth. It's almost too intense and flowery, but it's worth a read if you're interested in feminism and/or its history.
February 23, 2015
Took some slogging near the end, but a great read overall. I had to keep reminding myself that this voice that seems to be at the center of the discourse, informed of all opinions, would likely have been severely marginalized at the time. She doesn't write at all like a marginalized person, but instead one claiming her space in the intellectual world.
I do have to say that the racist references to Native Americans were sorrowing and seemed terribly out of place.
I do have to say that the racist references to Native Americans were sorrowing and seemed terribly out of place.
March 4, 2021
I finally sat down and read some of Fuller’s work after hearing that there was a female Transcedentalist author many years ago. It’s an intense text, but Fuller’s life and work (published in 1845) is so incredible. A reminder that smart and strong women have always been present in our history, even if they are not always visible.
September 8, 2009
Most intellectual argument of the social position of women in the 19th Century. A "blue stocking" of her day. The best 19th Century feminist author who was a beacon for women's rights through multiple allusions to women in history who were leaders and intellectual. Fascinating book!
July 11, 2013
Amazing. Extremely intelligent woman writing great feminist prose much ahead of her time. I have a few issues on the extreme focus on hetero marriage and Christianity, but given the time and the audience it's obvious why. Love her!
Read
November 24, 2015Not the easiest book to read, but this was a really great book and had so many great historical references to the strength of woman of this past during a very difficult time for women in the 19th century.
May 9, 2009
This book is dense, but absolutely brilliant. In some ways, it reminds me of "The Waste Land" with its vast amount of references. Good read, but not for the faint of heart.
September 17, 2015
Essential readings on feminism. MF, you Rock.
March 23, 2010
This is one of the earliest and most cogent expositions of feminism I have ever read, and I especially treasure it for its Americanism and its clarity.
Read
March 29, 2010Quintessence of feminism, and its direct descent from idealism of transcendentalism, which embraced abolitionism and the unfulfilled agenda of the American Revolution.
February 24, 2011
I read only the main text in this volume
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