In the middle of the nineteenth century, the highest paid and most famous newspaper writer in the US was a woman known to the world as Fanny Fern, the nom de plume of Sara Payson Willis. A Fanny Fern Reader features a selection of Fern's columns, mostly from her years as a weekly columnist for the New York Ledger, along with an introduction that shares the remarkable story of Fern's perseverance and success as a woman in a male-dominated profession. For readers in her own time, Fern's frank and unbridled social commentary and boldly satirical voice made her a household name. Fern's subversive and witty commentary about social mores, gender roles, childhood, authorship, and family life transcend time and continue to resonate with and entertain readers today. A Fanny Fern Reader is the most extensive collection of Fern's newspaper writings to date and includes several works that have been out of print for over a century, making this author's writing on a wide range of issues accessible for readers within and outside of classrooms and academic settings.

Fanny Fern is a name that is unfamiliar to most contemporary readers. In this first modern biography, Warren revives the reputation of a once-popular 19th-century newspaper columnist and novelist. Fern, the pseudonym for Sara Payson Willis Parton, was born in 1811 and grew up in a society with strictly defined gender roles. From her rebellious childhood to her adult years as a newspaper columnist, Fern challenged society's definition of women's place with her life and her words. Fern wrote a weekly newspaper column for 21 years and, using colorful language and satirical style, advocated women's rights and called for social reform. Warren blends Fern's life story with an analysis of the social and literary world of 19th-century America.

Fanny Fern dominated the New York literary scene in the 1850s, garnering both esteem and, occasionally, derision for her witty and acerbic newspaper columns and literary criticism; her semi-autobiographical novel Ruth Hall, which traces the rise of an intelligent and determined young woman from poverty to prestige through her pursuit of a writing career, was one of America’s most significant early bestsellers. Fern’s use of informal, vibrantly conversational prose and her abundant colloquialisms marked an important shift in the established literary conventions of nineteenth-century fiction and journalism. This compact edition collects some of Fern’s most frequently taught journalism—much of which focuses on the changing roles of women in nineteenth-century America—along with excerpts from Ruth Hall.

Stories and sketches for children.

Reproduction of the original: Little Ferns For Fanny's Little Friends by Fanny Fern