Ruth Hall and Other Writings by Fanny Fern (American Women Writers)

When Ruth Hall was originally published in 1855, it caused a sensation. In it, Fanny Fern (Sara Payson Willis Parton) portrays a midnineteenthcentury woman who realizes the American Dream solely on her own becoming the incarnation of the American individualistregarded at that time as a role designed exclusively for men. Based on the authors life, the novel reflects her spirit of practical feminismthat a woman was only truly independent when she was financially independent.Fanny Fern was one of the most popular American writers of the midnineteenth century, the first woman newspaper columnist in the United States, and the most highly paid newspaper writer of her day. This volume gathers together for the first time almost one hundred selections of her best work as a journalist. Writing on such taboo subjects as prostitution, venereal disease, divorce, and birth control, Fern stripped the faade of convention from some of societys most sacred institutions, targeting cant and hypocrisy, pretentiousness and pomp.Fern portrays a midnineteenth century woman who becomes the incarnartion of the American individualist, something regarded as exclusively for men.