READING MARGARET FULLER
Fuller’s Woman in the Nineteenth Century (1845) is a challenging text. As we consider this text, we’ll need to be attentive to a range of contexts. You’ll want, for example, to consider Fuller’s position in the circle of New England Transcendentalists. Fuller was close to Emerson, both personally and intellectually, and edited the Dial. In what ways are her ideas similar to Emerson’s? Does she endorse a program of Emersonian self-reliance, for example? Is her text formally or stylistic similar to Emerson’s writings? Does Fuller use images that resemble Emerson’s images? Note, for example, her discussion of spheres. Do her spheres function the same way that Emerson’s do, or is she doing something different with this image?
It’s also worth considering Fuller as an early feminist voice in America. What feminist concerns does this text articulate? What does she suggest about the position of women in the nineteenth-century? Think carefully about her title. Is it significant that she considers "woman" as opposed to "women"? If so, what might this suggest? How does Fuller respond to what’s been called the Cult of True Womanhood, the nineteenth-century faith in women as agents of moral influence centered in the home counteracting the outside world of business and economic competition? Does Fuller accept this division of roles? In her text, does she encourage women to overturn this structure, or to work within it? What kinds of power does she attribute to women?
You’ll want to consider the structure and style of this text as well. How is it structured? What kinds of texts does she incorporate? What materials does she draw on to support her argument?
Some readers are frustrated by the theoretical or philosophical preoccupations of this text. Does Fuller confine herself entirely to the theoretical realm? Or does she consider practical issues as well? Note also that while it’s tempting to read her absence from the American suffrage movement as an indication of her theoretical bent, Fuller was out of the country for several years before her death. Can you imagine her participating in the fight for woman suffrage in the United States? Why or why not?