Fanny Fern Summary

One of America's first woman newspaper columnists. Sara Payson Willis, using the name Fanny Fern, wrote weekly from 1851 to 1872, primarily for the New York Ledger. Her columns were widely reprinted, ... Read more

Sara Payson Willis Parton, known to her readers as Fanny Fern, was the first American woman newspaper columnist and the most highly paid newspaper writer of her time. Her popular columns appeared regu... Read more

In the following essay, Wood discusses women's writing in mid-nineteenth-century America, with particular emphasis on Fanny Fern's Ruth Hall and how the novel deviated from what was cons... Read more

In the following essay, Warren explores how Fern's own experience as a vulnerable and powerless widow served as the basis for her novel Ruth Hall and caused her to urge all women—married... Read more

In the following essay, Walker provides an overview of the prevailing themes and topics of Fanny Fern's newspaper columns, including those reprinted in Fern Leaves and Shadows and Sunbeams (the... Read more

In the following essay, Pettengill examines newspaper and novel writing in the mid-nineteenth century and shows how Fern's work in these two genres at times blurred the distinction between them... Read more