Other editions of book Ruth Hall - Scholar's Choice Edition

In Ruth Hall, one of the bestselling novels of the 1850s, Fanny Fern drew heavily on her own experiences: the death of her first child and her beloved husband, a bitter estrangement from her family, and her struggle to make a living as a writer. Written as a series of short vignettes and snatches of overheard conversations, it is as unconventional in style as in substance and strikingly modern in its impact.

Ruth Hall is the best known work of Fanny Fern, the pseudonym of Sara Willis Parton. Ruth Hall is also Fern's most enduring work. The novel's depiction of a Victorian-era woman who earns financial independence has made it a favorite with contemporary feminist literary scholars. In most domestic novels of this period, the heroine's quest ends with a happy marriage and the surrendering of all employment outside the home. In this case, however, the happy marriage is only a prologue; it is also a mixed blessing, bringing with it the sorrow of a child's death, along with a truly awful set of in-laws who must always be placated and appeased.

A young widow beset by family and fate triumphs through talent and determination.By the time Ruth Hall was written, its author was already famous as the essayist “Fanny Fern”; her newspaper essays were published in two popular collections in 1853. Ruth Hall was her first novel, but in theme and tone it’s very much a piece with the newspaper essays: sentimental and satiric. “Fanny Fern” could be devastating, especially, on the subject of families and family relationships; here, the character of Ruth’s brother—“Hyacinth Ellet”—is based on her own brother, the famous poet and essayist Nathaniel Parker Willis. The novel itself is vaguely autobiographical.As a result, the novel was a sensation. Critics admired the book or lambasted it for expressing the anger of a woman with a grievance. “The woman writes as if the devil was in her,” Nathaniel Hawthorne pointed out about the book. Not every critic thought this was a good thing.This ebook is transcribed from the first edition, with a tiny introductory essay and reviews and commentary by critics in 1854 and 1855. Included is the unsigned review by Wilkie Collins.

The old church clock rang solemnly out on the midnight air. Ruth started. For hours she had sat there, leaning her cheek upon her hand, and gazing through the open space between the rows of brick walls, upon the sparkling waters of the bay, glancing and quivering ’neath the moon-beams. The city’s busy hum had long since died away; myriad restless eyes had closed in peaceful slumber; Ruth could not sleep. This was the last time she would sit at that little window. The morrow would find her in a home of her own. On the morrow Ruth would be a bride.

Ruth Hall is the best known work of Fanny Fern, the pseudonym of Sara Willis Parton. Ruth Hall is also Fern's most enduring work. The novel's depiction of a Victorian-era woman who earns financial independence has made it a favorite with contemporary feminist literary scholars. In most domestic novels of this period, the heroine's quest ends with a happy marriage and the surrendering of all employment outside the home. In this case, however, the happy marriage is only a prologue; it is also a mixed blessing, bringing with it the sorrow of a child's death, along with a truly awful set of in-laws who must always be placated and appeased.

Excerpt:CHAPTER I.The old church clock rang solemnly out on the midnight air. Ruth started. For hours she had sat there, leaning her cheek upon her hand, and gazing through the open space between the rows of brick walls, upon the sparkling waters of the bay, glancing and quivering ’neath the moon-beams. The city’s busy hum had long since died away; myriad restless eyes had closed in peaceful slumber; Ruth could not sleep. This was the last time she would sit at that little window. The morrow would find her in a home of her own. On the morrow Ruth would be a bride.

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