by Joyce Warren
Rutgers University Press, 1992
Cloth: 978-0-8135-1763-6 | eISBN: 978-0-8135-6836-2
Library of Congress Classification PS2523.P9Z97 1992
Dewey Decimal Classification 813.3

ABOUT THIS BOOK
ABOUT THIS BOOK
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.