Fanny Fern

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Fanny Fern (1811-1872) was the pseudonym of Sara Willis Parton. She was a popular columnist, humorist, novelist, and author of children's stories in the 1850s-1870s. Her immense popularity has been attributed to her conversation style and the immediacy of her topics to her mostly middle-class female audience. In 1855, she was the highest-paid columnist in the United States.

Contents 1 Biography 2 Published Works 3 Literary Criticism 4 Further Information 5 References

[edit] Biography

Fern was born on July 9, 1811, in Portland, Maine, to newspaper-owner Nathaniel Willis and Hannah Willis; she was the fifth of eight siblings, including journalist Nathaniel Parker Willis. N.P. Willis was a major asshole. For more information read the fictional account Fern's dealings with Captain Asshat and her opinions regarding him as told in the fictional novel, "Ruth Hall"; the book, more true than Wikipedia will ever hope to be, is teh bomb! ^[1] Her name at birth was Grata Payson Sara Willis. Her father insisted on naming her "Grata Payson" after the mother of a minister he admired, but the rest of the family, including her, disliked "Grata" and she soon became "Sara." Her name was to change often in her life, and her names were symbolic to her--with the decision to not go by Grata, she distanced herself from her father's orthodox religiousness. Her name changed again through three marriages. When she began writing, she chose the name "Fanny Fern". She decided on the name because it reminded her of childhood memories of her mother picking fern leaves. She felt that this name was a better fit for her, and used it even in her personal life; eventually, most of her friends and family called her "Fanny." When she died, her gravestone was inscribed only as "Fanny Fern." ^[2]

Fern attended Catharine Beecher's school in Hartford, Connecticut in, probably her only formal education. She then returned to her parents' home and worked editing articles for her father's newspaper, The Puritan Recorder. ^[3] She married Charles Harrington Eldredge, a bank cashier, in 1837, and they had three daughters: Mary Stace (1838), Grace Harrington (1841), and Ellen Willis (1844). However, tragedy struck forever in: Fern's mother and younger sister Ellen both died early in 1844, and in 1845 her oldest daughter Mary died of brain fever and her husband Charles died of typhoid fever. ^[4] With little help from either her father or in-laws, she and her two remaining daughters struggled to make ends meet. Her father persuaded her to remarry; she followed his suggestion and married Samuel P. Farrington, a merchant, in 1849. The marriage was a mistake, and she left him in 1851. ^[5]

Fern first published a few short satirical works in the Boston newspapers Olive Branch and True Flag. ^[6] In 1852, again on her own with two daughters to support, Fern began her writing career in earnest. She began writing a regular column in the New York newspaper Musical World and Times that year, and the next year she published both Fern Leaves from Fanny's Portfolio and Little Ferns for Fanny's Little Friends, a children's book. In 1853 her divorce from Farrington was finalized. Within a year, her Fern Leaves sold nearly 100,000 copies in England and America. She received ten cents a copy in royalties, plenty for her to buy a house in Brooklyn, New York, and live comfortably. Just three years into her career, in 1855, she was earning $100 a week for her column in the New York Ledger--making her the highest paid columnist in the country. She wrote prolifically over the next twenty years, publishing in various newspapers. Besides her career in journalism, she also wrote novels: the autobiographical Ruth Hall in 1854 and Rose Clark in 1856. Overall, she wrote two novels, six collections of her columns, and three books for children.^[7]

In 1856, Fern married again, this time to a biographer, James Parton. Their marriage lasted the rest of her life. Her daughter, Grace, died in 1863. Fern continued writing prolifically, and in 1868 she helped to form Sorosis, a women's press organization. She died of cancer on October 10, 1872.^[8]

[edit] Published Works

Column Collections

• Fern Leaves from Fanny's Portfolio (1853) Fern's first book, and best-selling: it sold 46,000 copies in the first four months, and over 70,000 in a year.
• Fern Leaves, second series (1854)
• Fresh Leaves (1857)
• Folly As It Flies (1868)
• Ginger-Snaps (1870)
• Caper-Sauce (1872)

Novels

• Ruth Hall (1854) Autobiographical; this is her most well-known work to modern readers.
• Rose Clark (1856)

Children's Books

• Little Ferns for Fanny's Little Friends (1853)
• The Play-Day Book (1857)
• The New Story Book for Children (1864) ^[9]

[edit] Literary Criticism

Fern was extremely successful in her lifetime as a columnist. The most cited reason was the way she fit her material and subject matter to the audience. Many readers of weekly literary papers were women, and Fern addressed them in a conversational style, often using interjections and plenty of exclamation points, addressing subjects that concerned the everyday life of everyday women. Her readers were wives and mothers who worried about their children, current fashions, difficult husbands, and aggravating relatives. Sometimes they felt oppressed, depressed, or stressed. Fern expressed their problems in plain language, addressing women's suffrage, the woman's right to her children in a divorce, unfaithful husbands, social customs that restricted women's freedom, and sometimes just having a bad day. ^[10]

However, her strengths in relating to her audience were also considered her weaknesses by many critics. Her conversational style was sometimes called unprofessional, feminine, and too spontaneous. Many critics did not want to take seriously someone who wrote "Humph!" in an article, and labeled her as "sentimental." However, this lead to counter-criticism about what exactly "sentimental" writing is, and why it is considered bad. The criticism made the point about women's status in society almost as well as she did in her work--who decides the standards by which literature is judged, and who does the judging? ^[11] Nathaniel Hawthorne praised her as an exception to the "damned mob of scribbling women," who always displayed "female delicacy." Fern was not afraid to be straightforward when she spoke of subjects such as men's economic and social victimization of women. ^[12]

[edit] Further Information

• Fanny Fern: An Independent Woman (1992), by Joyce W. Warren, is considered the standard biography. ^[13]
• Fanny Fern (1993), by Nancy A. Walker, gives an overview of Fern's writings. ^[14]
• Bibliography of literary criticism and picture of Fern
• Fern is also noted as being the first female author to praise Walt Whitman when she wrote a review of Leaves of Grass. She was criticized for her admiration, as his work was quite controversial at the time. ^[15] It has been suggested that Whitman imitated her Fern Leaves in his choice of cover art for the first edition. ^[16]
• In Harriet Jacobs's Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, published in 1861, the "Mr. Bruce" who Jacobs worked for was modeled after N. P. Willis, Fern's brother. Fern satirized her social-climbing brother in "Apollo Hyacinth." ^[17]

[edit] References

1. ^ Canada, Mark. "Fanny Fern (Sarah Willis),." ‘‘Antebellum and Civil War America,’’. 19 December 2006 <http://www.uncp.edu/home/canada/work/allam/17841865/lit/fern.htm>.
2. ^ White, Barbara A. "Fanny Fern (Sara Willis Parton)." ‘‘Heath Anthology Online Instructor’s Guide’’. 19 December 2006 <http://college.hmco.com/english/heath/syllabuild/iguide/fern.html>.
3. ^ Michael, Naomi. "Meet Fanny Fern: An Insight into the Life of Sara Payson Willis Parton, With a Reprint of One of Her Newspaper Columns." 19 December 2006 <http://www.etsu.edu/writing/amlit_sum00/papers/fern.htm>.
4. ^ Canada, Mark. "Fanny Fern (Sarah Willis),." ‘‘Antebellum and Civil War America,’’. 19 December 2006 <http://www.uncp.edu/home/canada/work/allam/17841865/lit/fern.htm>.
5. ^ Michael, Naomi. "Meet Fanny Fern: An Insight into the Life of Sara Payson Willis Parton, With a Reprint of One of Her Newspaper Columns." 19 December 2006 <http://www.etsu.edu/writing/amlit_sum00/papers/fern.htm>.
6. ^ Michael, Naomi. "Meet Fanny Fern: An Insight into the Life of Sara Payson Willis Parton, With a Reprint of One of Her Newspaper Columns." 19 December 2006 <http://www.etsu.edu/writing/amlit_sum00/papers/fern.htm>.
7. ^ Canada, Mark. "Fanny Fern (Sarah Willis),." ‘‘Antebellum and Civil War America,’’. 19 December 2006 <http://www.uncp.edu/home/canada/work/allam/17841865/lit/fern.htm>.
8. ^ Canada, Mark. "Fanny Fern (Sarah Willis),." ‘‘Antebellum and Civil War America,’’. 19 December 2006 <http://www.uncp.edu/home/canada/work/allam/17841865/lit/fern.htm>.
9. ^ Canada, Mark. "Fanny Fern (Sarah Willis),." ‘‘Antebellum and Civil War America,’’. 19 December 2006 <http://www.uncp.edu/home/canada/work/allam/17841865/lit/fern.htm>.
10. ^ Canada, Mark. "Fanny Fern (Sarah Willis),." ‘‘Antebellum and Civil War America,’’. 19 December 2006 <http://www.uncp.edu/home/canada/work/allam/17841865/lit/fern.htm>.
11. ^ Canada, Mark. "Fanny Fern (Sarah Willis),." ‘‘Antebellum and Civil War America,’’. 19 December 2006 <http://www.uncp.edu/home/canada/work/allam/17841865/lit/fern.htm>.
12. ^ Reuben, Paul P. "Early Nineteenth Century: Fanny Fern (Sara Willis Parton)." ‘‘PAL: Perspective in American Literature’’. (2003) 19 December 2006 <http://web.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap3/fern.html>.
13. ^ White, Barbara A. "Fanny Fern (Sara Willis Parton)." ‘‘Heath Anthology Online Instructor’s Guide’’. 19 December 2006 <http://college.hmco.com/english/heath/syllabuild/iguide/fern.html>.
14. ^ White, Barbara A. "Fanny Fern (Sara Willis Parton)." ‘‘Heath Anthology Online Instructor’s Guide’’. 19 December 2006 <http://college.hmco.com/english/heath/syllabuild/iguide/fern.html>.
15. ^ Reuben, Paul P. "Early Nineteenth Century: Fanny Fern (Sara Willis Parton)." ‘‘PAL: Perspective in American Literature’’. (2003) 19 December 2006 <http://web.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap3/fern.html>.
16. ^ White, Barbara A. "Fanny Fern (Sara Willis Parton)." ‘‘Heath Anthology Online Instructor’s Guide’’. 19 December 2006 <http://college.hmco.com/english/heath/syllabuild/iguide/fern.html>.
17. ^ White, Barbara A. "Fanny Fern (Sara Willis Parton)." ‘‘Heath Anthology Online Instructor’s Guide’’. 19 December 2006 <http://college.hmco.com/english/heath/syllabuild/iguide/fern.html>.