Male criticism on ladies books
New York Ledger
May 23, 1857
May 23, 1857
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"Courtship and marriage, servants and children, these are the great objects of a woman's thoughts, and they necessarily form the staple topics of their writings and their conversation. We have no right to expect anything else in a woman's book." --- N.Y. Times
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IS IT in feminine novels only that courtship, marriage, servants and children are the staple? Is not this true of all novels? -- of Dickens, of Thackeray, of Bulwer and a host of others? It is peculiar to feminine pens, most astute and liberals of critics? Would a novel be a novel if it did not treat of courtship and marriage? and if it could be so recognized, would if find readers? When I see such a narrow, snarling criticism as the above, I always say to myself, the writer is some unhappy man, who has come up without the refining influence of a mother, or sister, or reputable female friends; who has divided his migratory life between boarding-houses, restaurants, and the outskirts of editorial sanctums; and who knows as much about reviewing a woman's book, as I do about navigating a ship, or engineering an omnibus from the South Ferry, through Broadway, to Union Park. I think I see him writing that paragraph in a fit of spleen --- of male spleen --- in his small boarding-house upper chamber, by the cheerful light of a solitary candle, flickering alternately on cobwebbed walls, dusty wash-stand, begrimed bowl and pitcher, refuse cigar stumps, boot-jacks, old hats, buttonless coats, muddy trousers, and all the wretched accompaniments of solitary, selfish male existence, not to speak of his own puckered, unkissable face; perhaps, in addition, his boots hurt, his cravat-bow persists in slipping under his ear for want of a pin, and a wife to pin it (poor wretch!) or he has been refused by some pretty girl, as he deserved to be (narrow-minded old vinegar-cruet!) or snubbed by some lady authoress; or, more trying than all to the male constitution, has had a weak cup of coffee for that morning's breakfast.
But seriously --- we have had quite enough of this shallow criticism (?) on lady-books. Whether the book which called forth the remark above quoted, was a good book or a bad one, I know not: I should be inclined to think the former from the dispraise of such a pen. Whether ladies can write novels or not, is a question I do not intend to discuss; but that some of them have no difficulty in finding either publishers or readers is a matter of history; and that gentlemen often write over feminine signatures would seem also to argue that feminine literature is, after all, in good odor with the reading public. Granted that lady-novels are not all that they should be --- is such shallow, unfair, wholesale, sneering criticism (?) the way to reform them? Would it not be better and more navy to point out a better way kindly, justly, and above all, respectfully? or --- what would be a much harder task for such critics --- write a better book!
But seriously --- we have had quite enough of this shallow criticism (?) on lady-books. Whether the book which called forth the remark above quoted, was a good book or a bad one, I know not: I should be inclined to think the former from the dispraise of such a pen. Whether ladies can write novels or not, is a question I do not intend to discuss; but that some of them have no difficulty in finding either publishers or readers is a matter of history; and that gentlemen often write over feminine signatures would seem also to argue that feminine literature is, after all, in good odor with the reading public. Granted that lady-novels are not all that they should be --- is such shallow, unfair, wholesale, sneering criticism (?) the way to reform them? Would it not be better and more navy to point out a better way kindly, justly, and above all, respectfully? or --- what would be a much harder task for such critics --- write a better book!
Fanny Fern
To cite this project:
Fanny Fern, "Male Criticism on Ladies Books," Fanny Fern Archive, Ed. Haley Jones (2019) http://fannyfernarchive.org.
Fanny Fern, "Male Criticism on Ladies Books," Fanny Fern Archive, Ed. Haley Jones (2019) http://fannyfernarchive.org.
