Other editions of book Woman in the Nineteenth Century

Published in 1845, Woman in the Nineteenth Century is considered the first major feminist work in the United States. The basis of the essay is the notion that while mankind has the potential to becomes an elevated species understanding divine love, chronic inequality, selfishness and hypocrisy as barriers to this end that Americans inherited from the depravity of Europe. She describes the status of women as clearly inferior, equal to children and parallel to that of slavery, an in contrast to historical evidence of equality between the sexes and to the example of Christianity, with male and female saints. She outlines four types of marriages: mutual dependence, mutual idolatry, intellectual companionship, and a religious union that contains all three. She asserts that the souls of men and women are equal, despite gender, and that individuals each possess a unique mix of masculine and feminine energies. She urges an end to domination by men and for women to assert themselves so all can be self-dependent and autonomous individuals. A shorter version was first published in 1843 as "The Great Lawsuit. Man versus Men. Woman versus Women" in The Dial Magazine, the journal of the transcendental group edited by Margaret Fuller. Noted publisher Horace Greeley was impressed and encouraged her to rewrite it as a book. He helped in the publication by releasing it as part of his “Cheerful Books for the People” series. Readers were seldom indifferent to its radical notions and unsparing insights. Opinions ranged ranged from Thoreau’s high regard to the discomfort of those who thought that it “speaks of many things that should not be spoken of”.

Woman in the Nineteenth Century "Frailty, thy name is WOMAN." "The Earth waits for her Queen." The connection between these quotations may not be obvious, but it is strict. Yet would any contradict us, if we made them applicable to the other side, and began also, Frailty, thy name is MAN. The Earth waits for its King? Yet Man, if not yet fully installed in his powers, has given much earnest of his claims. Frail he is indeed,--how frail! how impure! Yet often has the vein of gold displayed itself amid the baser ores, and Man has appeared before us in princely promise worthy of his future. If, oftentimes, we see the prodigal son feeding on the husks in the fair field no more his own, anon we raise the eyelids, heavy from bitter tears, to behold in him the radiant apparition of genius and love, demanding not less than the all of goodness, power and beauty. We see that in him the largest claim finds a due foundation. That claim is for no partial sway, no exclusive possession. He cannot be satisfied with any one gift of life, any one department of knowledge or telescopic peep at the heavens. He feels himself called to understand and aid Nature, that she may, through his intelligence, be raised and interpreted; to be a student of, and servant to, the universe-spirit; and king of his planet, that, as an angelic minister he may bring it into conscious harmony with the law of that spirit. In clear, triumphant moments, many times, has rung through the spheres the prophecy of his jubilee; and those moments, though past in time, have been translated into eternity by thought; the bright signs they left hang in the heavens, as single stars or constellations, and, already, a thickly sown radiance consoles the wanderer in t

Woman in the Nineteenth Century is a book by American journalist, editor, and women's rights advocate Margaret Fuller. The basis for Fuller's essay is the idea that man will rightfully inherit the earth when he becomes an elevated being, understanding of divine love. There have been periods in time when the world was more awake to this love, but people are sleeping now; however, everyone has the power to become enlightened. Man cannot now find perfection because he is still burdened with selfish desires, but Fuller is optimistic and says that we are on the verge of a new awakening. She claims that in the past man, like Orpheus for Eurydice, has always called out for woman, but soon will come the time when women will call for men, when they will be equals and share a mortgage.

Margaret Fuller (1810-1850) was an American feminist, writer, and intellectual associated with the Transcendentalist movement. Her book Woman in the Nineteenth Century (1845) is considered the first major feminist work in the United States. Her life was short but full. She became the first editor of the transcendentalist journal The Dial in 1840, before joining the staff of the New York Tribune under Horace Greeley in 1844. By the time she was in her 30s, Fuller had earned a reputation as the best-read person in New England, male or female, and became the first woman allowed to use the library at Harvard College. Her seminal work, Woman in the Nineteenth Century, was published in 1845. A year later, she was sent to Europe for the Tribune as its first female correspondent. She soon became involved with the revolutions in Italy and allied herself with Giuseppe Mazzini. She had a relationship with Giovanni Ossoli, with whom she had a child. All three members of the family died in a shipwreck off Fire Island, New York, as they were traveling to the United States in 1850. Fuller's body was never recovered. This project collects her most famous work along with shorter pieces and extracts from her journals and letters.

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