My Heart Is a Large Kingdom: Selected Letters of Margaret Fuller / Edition 1

by Robert N. Hudspeth

Overview

This single-volume selection of the letters of Margaret Fuller affords a unique opportunity for renewed acquaintance with a great American thinker of the Transcendentalist circle. The letters represent Fuller at all stages of her life and career, and show her engaged as literary critic, as translator and as champion of German literature and thought, as teacher, as travel writer, as literary editor, as journalist, as feminist, as revolutionary, as wife and mother. "My Heart Is a Large Kingdom," unlike previous collections, includes only letters transcribed from Fuller's manuscripts and does not reproduce correspondence known only from printed sources and copies in hands other than Fuller's.Among the recipients of the letters in this generous selection are such literary and cultural figures as Bronson Alcott, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Arthur Hugh Clough, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Giuseppe Mazzini, Giovanni Angelo Ossoli (Fuller's husband), George Ripley, and Henry David Thoreau. Taken together, the letters serve as a chronicle of Fuller's lifetime and provide glimpses into her thoughts and feelings during the years of the "Conversations," Dial, and the revolution in Rome.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780801437472
Publisher:	Cornell University Press
Publication date:	01/10/2001
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	368
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.19(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Robert N. Hudspeth is Professor of English at the University of Redlands. He is the author of Ellery Channing and the editor of the six-volume Letters of Margaret Fuller, also available from Cornell, from which this selection is drawn.

Read an Excerpt

Chapter One

Hold on in courage of soul.

* * *

    When Sarah Margaret Fuller was born, on 23 May 1810, her father wasa successful lawyer who had moved to the outskirts of Cambridge,Massachusetts. His first child, she was an object of his love and devotion,which he expressed by expecting much of her. Timothy Fuller shaped hisdaughter's mind as he would try to shape the minds of his sons, but onlyshe was fully fit to profit from the regimen that he imposed. She earlylearned languages; she read widely in popular literature, in political economy,philosophy, history, poetry, and drama. Margaret had the advantageof Timothy's own classical training at Harvard and his insistence thatthings be done in an orderly manner. She grew up with a combination oftutelage at home and private schools in Boston and Groton, and, finally,she underwent an intense course of self-instruction. Although she later rememberedthose days as harsh and deforming, for she had nightmaresand periods of anxiety, the letters she wrote at the time make it abundantlydear that she also danced at Harvard balls, shared enthusiasmswith a circle of young women, and was thoroughly at home in the local sociallife. She even fell in love with George Davis, a distant cousin, but hedisappointed her.

    Her intellectual development did not slow down, for in her teens shebecame intensely interested in German literature and rapidly cultivatedfluency in the language. This was a time when German had come to dominatethe scholarly world of theology, but Fuller wasmore interested inthe literary works of Goethe, Novalis, Schiller, and others. She was, ofcourse, serf-taught, but she was able to talk to and correspond withFrederic Henry Hedge, a deeply learned minister who had studied inGermany. She asked his advice, read what he suggested, and then challengedhim to give her new directions.

    Even more important was her friendship with yet another distantcousin, James Freeman Clarke, who shared her passion for German literature.Fortunately for us, Clarke left New England to take a pastorate inLouisville, thus making it necessary for Fuller to write often and in detailto him. It is through these letters that we now get the best insight into themind of a brilliant young woman as she expands her knowledge and developsher own critical power. But it was not literature alone thatprompted the letters, for Fuller was willing to keep Clarke up to dateabout the goings on in Cambridge and Boston, and so we have a correspondingrecord of life among their friends in New England.

    But Margaret's father put an end to that life when he moved the familyto Groton, some forty miles from Cambridge. Fuller felt isolated andbalked, so she turned to her books, even more determined to keepabreast of the world of letters. All too soon, however, disaster fell: her fathersuddenly died of cholera on 1 October 1835. Though he had beensuccessful, Timothy had not left the family on a sound financial basis, sothe family faced an immediate need for action. Margaret had just been invitedto go abroad in the company of Samuel G. Ward (a young man whobecame her second love) and John and Eliza Farrar, a Harvard professorof mathematics and his wife. Fuller, of course, had to decline the trip andlook for employment. Her only choice was teaching, for she was not yetpracticed enough to think of herself as a professional author, and even ifshe were rash enough to try, the probability of making a living with herpen was small. So teach she did.

    Her first opportunity came when she found that Bronson Alcottneeded an assistant at his Temple School in Boston. An educational reformerand philosopher, Alcott had tried to teach in radically new ways,among them the use of Socratic dialogues with his pupils. ElizabethPeabody had been Alcott's first teacher and recorder of the talks with thechildren, but the subject matter sometimes bordered on sexuality and themanhood of Jesus—topics that could and did cause scandal—so Peabodyresigned. Fuller took the position in 1836, only to find Alcott interestingbut improvident, for he could not pay her for her efforts. It was, then,with some relief that she received an offer to teach in Providence, whereHiram Fuller (no relation) had established a school on Alcott's principlesbut on a firmer financial basis. He offered Fuller a handsome salary of$1,000 a year and the freedom to teach the girls in the school as shewished. In midsummer 1837 she accepted the offer.

    In one way it was not a propitious time for Fuller to leave Massachusetts,for she had finally made the acquaintance of the man most electrifying toyoung intellectuals—Ralph Waldo Emerson, at whose home she spent asatisfying visit in July 1836 and again in May and June 1837. But becauseEmerson lived in Concord, they could stay in touch only by letters, soFuller began another significant correspondence.

    She was a successful teacher in Providence, and she became a part of alively intellectual circle of men and women, but she liked neither the citynor the teaching. She fretted under the daily routine of instruction, andshe was impatient with the complacent? rather conservative bent of herProvidence acquaintances. Inevitably she gave it all up, even though thefinancial reward was substantial. Early in 1839 she went back to Boston,where she gave private lessons and translated Johann Peter Eckermann'sGespräche mit Goethe, a "table talk" book of conversations with the master.Fortunately for Fuller, George Ripley had begun a series of translations ofGerman works, Specimens of Foreign Standard Literature, and he acceptedher work for publication.

    At the same time Fuller planned a new project: in November 1859 sheorganized a series of "Conversations" for women in Boston. Participantspaid $10 to join. Fuller would begin each session by offering an opinionand then draw out her participants in a conversational give-and-take. Theseries was highly successful, for it gave Fuller an income, and it was very attractiveto the women, some of whom were also prominent intellectuals;others were the wives of public men in the Boston area. Fuller was a naturalconversationalist, so she was able to exploit this modification of thelecture format for five years. She gave semiannual courses and openedsome of them to men—unhappily, it turned out, for the men, as mighthave been predicted, dominated the discussions and silenced the women.But her Conversations limited to women seem to have been consistentlysuccessful and strengthened her public presence.

    During those years Fuller's friendship with Sam Ward grew into love,but, like Davis before him, Ward did not respond to her. She thoughtWard a promising young painter and encouraged him to develophis talent, but he was in fact headed to Baring Brothers to join his fatheras a banker. Even more confounding was the fact that Ward fell inlove with one of Fuller's close friends, Anna Barker, a beauty from NewOrleans whom Fuller deeply admired. Sam and Anna married onWard's birthday, 3 October 1840, a date Fuller noted each succeedingyear.

    Readers will find in the letters in this section a record of Fuller's growthfrom childhood to maturity. These letters show clearly how importantGerman literature was to her and how liberated she felt in exploring it.The letters chart the emotions of a woman trying to find her place in aworld that offers her few opportunities. She loves and loses two men, herfather dies, and she makes her first, successful ventures outward into aprofessional life as conversationalist and writer.

1. To Timothy Fuller

Cambridgeport. 16 Dec. 1818.

Dear Papa.

    I was very sorry to hear of your accident. I dreamed the night Mammarecieved your letter that you were sick and your life was despaired ofwhen you suddenly recovered. I hope the latter will be accomplished notthe former. Papa I do not suppose you think it a good excuse to say thatI could not write. No Papa nor do I either for I could have done it. But Ihave been like Basil in the "Tomorrow" and have determined to be so nolonger. I am resolved to write you every week. I have requested Mammaoften to let me learn to make puddings and pies. Now I will tell you whatI study Latin twice a week and Arithmetick when Aunt Elizabeth is here.If you have spies they will certainly inform you that we are not very dissipated.We have been three times to Dr. Williams and once to MrGannetts Aunt Elizabeth often goes to Boston. Eugene has got well butWilliam Henry is rather fretful today. Eugene was very much pleased torecieve your letter but I found it began to grow dirty and took it into custody.Mamma has given me one of the arches to put my letters in for Ihope you will write to me when you are not more usefully employed. I donot see how I have contrived to write without being forced to search mybrain for something to say except your letter furnished a variety of topicksfor I cannot write a long letter seldom more than a page and a halfneither do I see how you and Mamma write so much. Perhaps I shall nowthough. It will take you fifteen minutes to read this letter and me anhour to write it. You say a relation of your pain would be uninterrestingto any but an affectionate wife. Do not forget that I am Your afectionateDaughter.

Sarah M Fuller

2. To Timothy Fuller

Cambridge. 16 January 1820

My dear father

    I received your letter of the 29th about a week ago[.] I should have writtento you much sooner but have been very busy. I begin to be anxiousabout my letter of the 28th which you do not mention having received inany of your letters. If it has not miscarried it reached you a fortnight ago.Your letter to me was dated the day after mine was written but you do notmention it in any of your letters to Mamma.—

    I attend a school which is kept by Aunt Abigail for Eugene and myself andmy cousins which with writing and singing schools and my lessons to UncleElisha takes up most of my time—

    I have not written to Miss Kilshaw yet as there is no opportunity of sendingour letters. Deep rooted indeed is my affection for her May it flourishan ever blooming flower till our kindred spirits absolved from earthly daymount together to those blissful regions where never again we shall beseperated. I am not romantic, I am not making professions when I say Ilove Ellen better than my life. I love her better and reverence her morefor her misfortunes. Why should I not she is as lovely as sweet tempered asbefore. These were what I loved before and as she possesses all these nowwhy should my love diminish. Ought it not rather to increase as she hasmore need of it. It is for herself alone I grieve for the loss of fortune. Shewill be exposed to many a trial a temptation she would otherwise have escapedNot but I know she will go through them all No But I shall feel allher sorrows—

    You will let me read Zeluco? will you not and no conditions. Have youbeen to the theatre this winter? Have they any oratorios at Washington?—Iam writing a new tale called The young satirist. You must expect the remainderof this page to be filled with a series of unconnected intelligenceMy beautiful pen now makes a large mark I will write no farther. 17thJanuary 1820.

    Yesterday I threw by my pen for the reason mentioned above. Have youread Hesitation yet. I knew you would (though you are no novel reader)to see if they were rightly delineated for I am possessed of the greatestblessing of life a good and kind father. Oh I can never repay you for allthe love you have shown me. But I will do all I can.

    We have had a dreadful snowstorm today. I never look around theroom and behold all the comforts with which Heaven has blessed mewithout thinking of those wretched creatures who are wandering in all thesnow without food or shelter. I am too young No I am not. In nine yearsa great part of my life I can remember but two good actions done thosemore out of sefishness than charity. There is a poor woman of the nameof Wentworth in Boston she would willingly procure a subsistence buthas not the means. My dear father a dollar would be a great sum to thispoor woman. You remember the handsome dollar that I know your generositywould have bestowed on when I had finished my Deserted VillageI shall finish it well and desire nothing but the pleasure of giving it toher. My dear father send it to me immediately I am going into town thisweek I have a thousand things to say but neither time or paper to saythem in.

    Farewel my dear Father I am Your affectionate daughter.

Margaret Fuller

    P S I do not like Sarah, call me Margaret alone, pray do!

3. To Margarett C. Fuller

But there were many beautiful horsesand some of the performances really wonderful. One of the little poniesbeing ordered to jump through a balloon went and stuck his nosethrough the paper and then not liking the sport ran back. An Arabianhorse kept excellent time to the tune of Nancy Dawson. By the way uncleAbraham says that he had as lieve see Mr Whittlers children take a caneand ride around the room as hear me play on the piano and that it cameas near to these performances as my music did to that of Mrs Holman andMrs French. Uncle Elisha asked me if I talked to him about it on purposeto quarrel with him I shall not ever play before him I fancy tho' he saysI may when he is asleep. My best love to papa I am your affectionatedaughter.

Sarah M Fuller.

4. To Timothy Fuller

Cambridge. 25th. Jan. 1824.

My dearest father,

    I was delighted a short time ago by receiving a letter from you. I shouldvery much prefer going to Mr Emerson's on every account, and if I go toMiss Prescott's I must be compelled to give up seeing you at all. But if youwish it, I am willing to go, only, I hope you will not keep me there verylong. I would give you the particulars of Miss Pratts party, as you desire,but it is so long ago I have really forgotten them. I was very happy, I ampassionately fond of dancing and there is none at all in Cambridge exceptat the Cotillon parties. I thank you most sincerely, my beloved father, forthe interest you take in my pleasures. Be assured, I will do all that is in mypower to manifest my gratitude for the indulgence and kindness you haveever shown in endeavoring to gratify even my slightest wishes. I thinkthere never was so kind and affectionate a father as you and I am mostprofoundly and ardently sensible of it. At Miss Wells's there was dancingto the piano, singing, music, and chess. I played "Mary list awake," Bruce'saddress to his army,"—and "Oh this is the spot." Miss[e]s Gray and Wellsaccompanied me on the flute and flageolet. Miss Channing Miss Cochranand Miss Brewster, who have all delightful voices sang and played. I wasparticularly pleased with Miss Cochran's singing, for though her voice isneither very powerful, nor of great compass; I think it is the most soft andmelodious I ever heard. Miss Howard did not sing well at all. There wasgreat difficulty in prevailing on her to sing and when she did, she playedwithout any apparent diffidence to the middle of the tune, when she suddenlyb[r]oke off and buried her face in her hands. Every one thoughtthat she was very silly and affected, and some gentlemen told me she alwaysdid just the same thing, and they supposed she thought it gracefuland practised it at home for effect. Misses Spooner and Pratt played for usto dance, and my partner for the two first dances was Mr Ripley, who hadthe first part last Commencement, and as you thought spoke so finely.Afterwards I danced with Messrs Lunt, Newell, Emerson and Denny,Adeline Denny's brother. There is to be a Cotillon party this week. If youwere at home, I am sure Mother would be willing that I should go, whenshe knew you I wished it Elisabeth Ware, Charlotte M'Kean, AbbaD'Wolfe, the Misses Hilliard indeed all the young ladies of my age inCambridge except Harriette Alston H Fay and poor Sarah M. Fuller aregoing, and Sarah M. is going to Groton next summer and in all humanprobability will not go to a dance this two years. If there was time forMother to receive a letter from you, signifying your desire, that I shouldgo, I am sure she would let me, but that cannot be, as the party is onThursday.

    You have I suppose received a letter from Uncle Elisha, giving you theparticulars of his being exposed to the infection of the small pox. But I donot believe he can have caught it. Uncle Abraham has written to himadvising him not to avoid it by any means. Uncle A has been inoculatedfor the kine pock again, and mother thinks she shall be so too. Motherwas very unwell yesterday, she seemed very feverish and I feared thatshe would be sick, but she appears much better to day. Have you any objectionto my having my music bound. I can get it done in two volumes,half binding for two dollars. I am extremely obliged to you for your permissionto buy a Graeca Minora. Dearest father, yr most affectionatedaughter.

Sarah Margaret Fuller.

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Excerpted from "My Heart Is a Large Kingdom" by . Copyright © 2001 by Cornell University. Excerpted by permission. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

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Zarafa
A Giraffe's True Story, from Deep in Africa to the Heart of Paris

---

By Michael Allin

Walker and Company

Copyright © 1998 Michael Allin.All rights reserved.
TAILER

Table of Contents

Illustrations	vi
Preface	vii
Acknowledgments	xi
Biographical Sketches	xiii
Abbreviations	xix
I. Hold On in Courage of Soul: 1818-1839	1
II. Nature Has Seemed an Ever Open Secret: 1840-1844	107
III. The Field Which Opens Before Me: 1845-1847	205
IV. A Time Such as I Always Dreamed Of: 1848-1850	253
Bibliographical Essay	325
Index	327
ILLUSTRATIONS
Margaret Fuller	frontis.
James Freeman Clarke	17
Ellen Kilshaw Fuller	52
The Fuller family	71
Fuller's letter to William H. Channing	119
Ralph Waldo Emerson	170
Caroline Sturgis	226
Giovanni Angelo Ossoli	265

What People are Saying About This

Joan von Mehren

Hudspeth's six-volume edition of Margaret Fuller's letters revitalized Fuller and spurred the current Fuller revival. Hours spent in the company of this remarkable woman inMy Heart is a Large Kingdom will inform, provoke, and delight anyone interested in life and letters in nineteenth-century America.

Madeleine B. Stern

Here Margaret Fuller speaks for herself and, thanks to Robert Hudspeth's judicious selection of her letters, she also reanimates the world she lived in and the world she hoped for.

Joel Myerson

Drawn from Hudspeth's masterful six-volume edition of Fuller's letters, this selection is the definitive life-in-letters of one of America's first and most famous feminists and woman of letters, and is a mandatory purchase for anyone interested in women of the nineteenth century.

Elizabeth Hardwick

Margaret Fuller's vivid letters are a fascinating contribution to American history and culture.

Charles Capper

What the journal was to Ralph Waldo Emerson the letter was to Margaret Fuller: a perfect medium for expressing the intimate, transcendent, and socially embedded life of the mind. Thanks to Robert Hudspeth's authoritative one-volume collection, readers now have an accessible and well-chosen sampling of these private performances by one of America's most fascinating intellectual personalities.

Editorial Reviews

In My Heart is a Large Kingdom: Selected Letters of Margaret Fuller, Hudspeth has carved an elegant single volume of letters out of the complete and authoritative six that he has already edited. Hudspeth is a scholar's scholar: meticulous, unobtrusive, indefatigable. And in My Heart is a Large Kingdom, he reveals that he also has a novelist's eye.... Thanks to Hudspeth's scrupulous edition, it is easier to meet the private Fuller than ever before.

The New York Review of Books - Caleb Crain

Hudspeth's clever spirit rapping serves to remind us that Fuller remains obscure not only to most American citizens but also to many serious scholars of American literature.... Only scholarship as ambitious and accomplished as Hudspeth's can restore Fuller's place in what Emerson called an 'essential line of American history.'

The New England Quarterly - Christina Zwarg

Hudspeth's selection of Margaret Fuller's letters is likely to win her new readers and admirers.... Had she survived, her public writings might have grown more like her private letters, capable of touching readers' emotions as well as their intellects. Perhaps the tragic story revealed in these letters will move Margaret Fuller beyond the textbooks at last.

The Wilson Quarterly - Elaine Showalter

"What the journal was to Ralph Waldo Emerson the letter was to Margaret Fuller: a perfect medium for expressing the intimate, transcendent, and socially embedded life of the mind. Thanks to Robert Hudspeth's authoritative one-volume collection, readers now have an accessible and well-chosen sampling of these private performances by one of America's most fascinating intellectual personalities."

Charles Capper

"Margaret Fuller's vivid letters are a fascinating contribution to American history and culture."

Elizabeth Hardwick

"Hudspeth's six-volume edition of Margaret Fuller's letters revitalized Fuller and spurred the current Fuller revival. Hours spent in the company of this remarkable woman inMy Heart is a Large Kingdom will inform, provoke, and delight anyone interested in life and letters in nineteenth-century America."

Joan von Mehren

"Here Margaret Fuller speaks for herself and, thanks to Robert Hudspeth's judicious selection of her letters, she also reanimates the world she lived in and the world she hoped for."

Madeleine B. Stern

"Drawn from Hudspeth's masterful six-volume edition of Fuller's letters, this selection is the definitive life-in-letters of one of America's first and most famous feminists and woman of letters, and is a mandatory purchase for anyone interested in women of the nineteenth century."

Joel Myerson

"This volume of selections from the larger oeuvre will make Fuller accessible to a larger number of readers. Specialists and general readers with an interest in 19th-century American culture alike owe a debt to Hudspeth for this welcome contribution to scholarship."—Publishers Weekly, January 2001

"This selection of letters draws a comprehensive and balanced picture of the transcendentalist. . . Robert N. Hudspeth provides very brief and exceedingly helpful biographical sketches of the correspondents. . . This volume is an excellent alternative for academic and public libraries that were unable to afford the larger work."—Library Journal, February 2001

"In "My Heart is a Large Kingdom": Selected Letters of Margaret Fuller, Hudspeth has carved an elegant single volume of letters out of the complete and authoritative six that he has already edited. Hudspeth is a scholar's scholar: meticulous, unobtrusive, indefatigable. And in "My Heart is a Large Kingdom", he reveals that he also has a novelist's eye. . . Thanks to Hudspeth's scrupulous edition, it is easier to meet the private Fuller than ever before."—Caleb Crain, The New York Review of Books, 5/23/02

"A splendid selection of letters. . . "—Kirkus Reviews, January 2001

"Hudspeth's clever spirit rapping serves to remind us that Fuller remains obscure not only to most American citizens but also to many serious scholars of American literature. . . Only scholarship as ambitious and accomplished as Hudspeth's can restore Fuller's place in what Emerson called an 'essential line of American history.'"—Christina Zwarg, Haverford College. The New England Quarterly, Vol. 75, No. 1, March 2002

"Hudspeth's selection of Margaret Fuller's letters is likely to win her new readers and admirers. . . . Had she survived, her public writings might have grown more like her private letters, capable of touching readers' emotions as well as their intellects. Perhaps the tragic story revealed in these letters will move Margaret Fuller beyond the textbooks at last."—Elaine Showalter, The Wilson Quarterly. Winter, 2001.

"Margaret Fuller's vivid letters are a fascinating contribution to American history and culture."—Elizabeth Hardwick

"Here Margaret Fuller speaks for herself and, thanks to Robert Hudspeth's judicious selection of her letters, she also reanimates the world she lived in and the world she hoped for."—Madeleine B. Stern, author of The Life of Margaret Fuller

"Drawn from Hudspeth's masterful six-volume edition of Fuller's letters, this selection is the definitive life-in-letters of one of America's first and most famous feminists and woman of letters, and is a mandatory purchase for anyone interested in women of the nineteenth century."—Joel Myerson, Carolina Distinguished Professor of American Literature, University of South Carolina

"Hudspeth's six-volume edition of Margaret Fuller's letters revitalized Fuller and spurred the current Fuller revival. Hours spent in the company of this remarkable woman in"My Heart is a Large Kingdom" will inform, provoke, and delight anyone interested in life and letters in nineteenth-century America."—Joan von Mehren, author of Minerva and the Muse: A Life of Margaret Fuller

"What the journal was to Ralph Waldo Emerson the letter was to Margaret Fuller: a perfect medium for expressing the intimate, transcendent, and socially embedded life of the mind. Thanks to Robert Hudspeth's authoritative one-volume collection, readers now have an accessible and well-chosen sampling of these private performances by one of America's most fascinating intellectual personalities."—Charles Capper, author of Margaret Fuller: An American Romantic Life

From the Publisher

Fuller (1810-1850) was the "it girl" of Transcendentalism and one of the most trenchant critics and insightful thinkers 19th-century America produced. She translated German literature, wrote for the New York Daily Tribune and edited the Transcendentalist magazine the Dial. In this valuable collection of Fuller's private correspondence, readers will find a precocious eight-year-old Margaret writing to her "Papa," assuring him that "If you have spies they will certainly inform you that we are not very dissipated," and keeping him apprised of her Latin studies. At 20, Fuller articulates her controversial religious convictions to a cousin. In a letter to her mother, she describes her whirlwind travels to Europe, admitting that she's relieved finally to be in one place for six months. Among the most revealing are her letters to James Freeman Clarke, a distant cousin, about Goethe, about the marriages of mutual acquaintances and about God. The letters to Emerson, Fuller's fellow Transcendentalist (and her successor at the Dial), are also a delight. A May 1843 dispute between the two about whether or not the birth of a daughter is as "sacred" as the birth of a son illustrates their repartee--Fuller never hesitated to disagree with Emerson, but always did so with respect, grace and wit. Hudspeth (Univ. of Redlands) edited the definitive six-volume edition of Fuller's letters; this volume of selections from the larger oeuvre will make Fuller accessible to a larger number of readers. Specialists and general readers with an interest in 19th-century American culture alike owe a debt to Hudspeth for this welcome contribution to scholarship. (Feb.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Culled from Hudspeth's previous six-volume Letters of Margaret Fuller (Cornell Univ.), this selection of letters draws a comprehensive and balanced picture of the transcendentalist, covering the full scope of her life from age eight until her death in 1850 in a shipwreck. To assist the reader, the editor provides very brief and exceedingly helpful biographical sketches of the correspondents. The letters are printed in their entirety, unlike the only other selection of her letters, edited by Perry Miller (Margaret Fuller: American Romantic, Peter Smith, 1983. o.p.), which has only a handful of extracts of letters from the last few years of her life. While many letters focus on her education and literary development, the family and social letters complete the picture of this extraordinary woman. This volume is an excellent alternative for academic and public libraries that were unable to afford the larger work.--Paolina Taglienti, Long Island Univ., Brooklyn, NY Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal