Margaret Fuller: A New American Life: A Pulitzer Prize Winner

By Megan Marshall

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Biography

 

From an early age, Margaret Fuller provoked and dazzled New England’s intellectual elite. Her famous Conversations changed women’s sense of how they could think and live; her editorship of the Transcendentalist literary journal the Dial shaped American Romanticism. Now, Megan Marshall, whose acclaimed The Peabody Sisters “discovered” three fascinating women, has done it again: no biography of Fuller has made her ideas so alive or her life so moving.

Marshall tells the story of how Fuller, tired of Boston, accepted Horace Greeley’s offer to be the New-York Tribune’s front-page columnist. The move unleashed a crusading concern for the urban poor and the plight of prostitutes, and a late-in-life hunger for passionate experience. In Italy as a foreign correspondent, Fuller took a secret lover, a young officer in the Roman Guard; she wrote dispatches on the brutal 1849 Siege of Rome; and she gave birth to a son.

Yet, when all three died in a shipwreck off Fire Island shortly after Fuller’s fortieth birthday, the sense and passion of her life’s work were eclipsed by tragedy and scandal. Marshall’s inspired account brings an American heroine back to indelible life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Mar 12, 2013
• ISBN: 9780547523620

Megan Marshall

Megan Marshall is the author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Peabody Sisters: Three Women Who Ignited American Romanticism, Margaret Fuller: A New American Life, and Elizabeth Bishop: A Miracle for Breakfast. In addition to the Pulitzer Prize, her work has been awarded the Francis Parkman Prize, the Mark Lynton History Prize, and the BIO Award, the highest honor given by the Biographers International Organization to a writer who has advanced the art and craft of biography. Marshall is Charles Wesley Emerson Professor of writing, literature, and publishing at Emerson College.

Reviews for Margaret Fuller

[steller0707 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Megan Marshall’s book is a wonderfully readable account of the life of Boston-born Margaret Fuller (1810-1850), an early feminist. Her father was her primary educator, “designing” her course of study at home. A tough taskmaster he was, which turned out to be of great value to her, for he died young. She needed then to provide for her mother and her siblings. After a short teaching gig, she realized that, although she was successful, it was not her passion - she desperately wanted to write. Another passion was engaging women in developing their intellect. To this end, she led a series of Conversations, to which the women of Boston subscribed, meeting weekly to discuss literary topics. These two passions served to support her family.

Though not born of wealth, she was a friend of the Transcendalists in New England, in particular of Ralph Waldo Emerson whom she held in thrall. She wrote constantly, letters and essays, always looking to Emerson for intellectual commentary and discussion. In fact, she probably would have liked a closer union, but he couldn’t be moved in that direction, and sometimes treated her harshly.

The book traces the life of a woman ahead of her time. In her early years, she envied her friends who married and had children. Though that would come later for her, she was content to be a woman of intellect and action. A trip to the Midwest that opened her eyes to a world away from Boston, the publishing of two well-received books and numerous articles, the “plum” job as literary editor of Horace Greeley’s New York Tribune where she finally gained confidence and received the accolades that she deserved, and the trip as foreign correspondent in Europe that was to prove so momentous for her and bring her fulfillment of the wish for a child – all these events unfold beautifully with Marshall’s prose to guide the reader and with Fuller’s words that are liberally quoted throughout.

Not only did Fuller’s writing display her wide range of literary knowledge, but it is styled so beautifully with just the right turn of phrase. In the 1970’s, during the heat of the women’s liberation movement, T-shirts were printed with a quote from her famous book, Woman of the Nineteenth Century. Taken out of context from her belief that women should be able to be what they want to be, the quote was “Let Them Be Sea-Captains.” But it’s probably not one she would have picked. Instead, believing as she did that women should be taught and held to high standards, she might have preferred this one:

"Who would be a goody that could be a genius"

[carolee888 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

was looking forward to this so much. Margaret Fuller was Louisa May Alcott's role model, she was deep into Transcendalism, a subject I love, she did things that were out of the norm for that time period. But this Pultizer Prize winning book was a big let down for me. The author does excell in storytelling. she clutters up her book with numerous details and quotes. When I got interested part of Margaret Fuller's life, the author left me hanging and then changed the subject. I trudged through the entire book because I thought might get better. It did not. I think something that would have really improved the book would have been if the author had tried to read it out load, even once. The back of the book in Notes indicates that a tremendous amount of research had been down. Usually I love a book that is very well researched but I daresay that Margaret Filler would have been disappointed with how her life had been put together in a dreary slog of detaills. I would not recommend this book for letting yourself go into the life of a vibtant, and very intelligent woman.

[sullywriter_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

An admiring and fascinating biography of a nineteenth century woman too brilliant and too progressive to be fully understood or appreciated in her time.

[muddyboy · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

An intimate and sensitive telling of the life of one of America's greatest minds who is thwarted by her gender from her ambitions and also sadly in her quest to find a mutual true love. Margaret Fuller is always questing for the things missing in her life. She becomes close friends with Emerson, Hawthorne and many of the greatest literary figures of her day but she always to be a bit out of the loop in my opinion. The author has done an amazing amount of research and presents this complex woman with skill and fairness. I can see why the book got all the acclaim that it did. A must read for literary scholars.

[japaul22 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

After loving Megan Marshall's first book, The Peabody Sisters, I bought this book as soon as I heard about it. I'm embarrassed to admit that I barely knew who Margaret Fuller was before reading this except for a vague notion of Transcendentalists and feminism. Marshall's book gave me a detailed but readable account of an interesting woman's life. Margaret Fuller was educated in the classics by her father and was a bright child. She went through awkward teenage years before slowly coming into her own through her friendships with Ralph Waldo Emerson, Elizabeth Peabody, the Channings and many in the Boston Transcendentalist circle of the 1840s. She wrote a novel, edited several magazines (including Emerson's work), wrote a seminal feminist work called Woman in the Nineteenth Century, and was a columnist for the New-York Tribune. She went to Italy in the late 1840s and reported on the political upheaval there. She also met an Italian man who she had a child with and ended up marrying. On their way back to America, she, her husband, and their two year old son died in a shipwreck off the coast of New York. Margaret Fuller was 40. Marshall does an excellent job of showing how Fuller's personal characteristics impacted her career and vice versa. She also uses Fuller's own words to write this book. This worked since Fuller was such a good writer, but it took me a little while to get used to this technique. The quotes interrupted my flow of reading at first and I still wonder exactly what Marshall was paraphrasing in between Fuller's own words. Here's a random example of what I mean.But "a new young man" was not enough to lure Margaret from the close proximity of enigmatic, "unhelpful, wise" Waldo Emerson. In December, after a tearful parting with her "row" of pupils, who presented her with an "elegantly bound" set of Shakespeare, Margaret was off to the "vestal solitudes" of Groton. "I do not wish to teach again at all," she declared. She knew she might not have her wish, but she expected to devote at least a year to "my own inventions" before attempting once more to effect "my dreams and hopes as to the education of women," if necessary. And: "What hostile or friendly star may not take the ascendant before that time?"Like I said, I got used to the technique, but it was a little distracting. Overall, a recommended book for anyone interested in biographies of American women.

[bookscookslooks · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I went into this book with the barest knowledge of Margaret Fuller. I'm now a bit more educated as to this remarkable woman born into the wrong time. But perhaps she was needed then to help enlighten those who would take the spark of an idea that women were more than mothers, more than housewives and bring it forward to a time where such an idea could burst into a flame.In reading of her early life, where her father "homeschooled" her and expected learning from a six year old that was nothing short of extraordinary I felt sorrow for the girl who never felt the love of a father, only his scorn when she did not live up to almost impossible expectations. She had something wrong with her spine - scoliosis maybe? - that led to one shoulder being markedly higher than the other and she had migraines. I understand how debilitating they can be. But she pushed through. When he father died leaving the family with no income or savings it was up to her to provide and she did. In a time when women were not wage earners.Margaret Fuller was also a woman of experiment; she belonged to the Transcendentalists where she had an ongoing give and take with Ralph Waldo Emerson. She ultimately worked for Horace Greeley and ended up in Italy where she may or may not have married the father of her one and only child. As she was coming home to the United States they were all killed in the shipwreck off of Fire Island, NY.Ms. Marshall makes extensive use of Ms. Fuller's writings to make her biography come together. How better to bring a person to life than through her own words? My issues were with the Margaret Fuller "might have, would have" suppositions that I suppose are the only way to suggest assumptions but they were too many for me. That being written, this was a well researched, fascinating look at a woman who was scorned in her time for behaviors that wouldn't rate barely a smirk today. It's a shame that Ms. Fuller didn't know how much she truly was worth.I am so glad that I chose to read this book. It was well organized, very well written and it has left me marveling over a woman wanting what was right for people, trying to find love and seeking the respect of family. Isn't that what we all want?

[jaylia3 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

“I will never do as Waldo does . . . flee to the woods”Margaret Fuller was the intellectual equal of her close friend Ralph Waldo Emerson, but while he was retiring she had a passionate, engage-the-world personality that makes Megan Marshall’s thoroughly researched and engaging biography of her the most moving book I’ve read in a long time. The book opens with Margaret as a precocious child, who from an early age was driven to excel intellectually by her father in spite of the fact that she was a daughter not a son, and it ends with the heartbreaking ship wreck that killed Margaret and her new husband and child within sight of the Long Island shoreline. In between Margaret wrote books that challenged the status quo regarding women, culture, and politics. While she was part of the Transcendentalist school of thought she traveled far from New England. During a trip to the Great Lakes region she spent time with Native Americans, afterwards writing about the plight of their culture, and she was in Europe as a correspondent during the continent wide upheavals of 1848. It took me a long time to finish this biography because I kept pausing to read some of Margaret’s own works, which are available for free on sites like Project Gutenberg and Google Books. Margaret was brilliant in a time when smart woman made men uncomfortable. Gender limited her options, but Margaret tried to use her well developed intellect to play an important role in the world like the heroes of America’s Revolutionary War that she admired. In spite of her antipathy to marriage as it was practiced in the mid-1800’s, Margaret longed for a full life with love and a child of her own, yearnings that were not fulfilled until a few years before her death.This biography by Megan Marshall held me rapt because it brought both Margaret Fuller and the post-Revolutionary, pre-Civil War era in the United States and Europe to life for me. The book’s pages are full of the intellectual, revolutionary and literary leaders of the time, and Margaret's own words, quoted throughout the text, are so well put and insightful even now that I found myself underlining almost all of them