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Ruth Hall

Ruth Hall

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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.
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