The Selected Letters of Mary Moody Emerson

Scholars have long recognized that Mary Moody (1774-1863) had a vital influence on the intellectual development of her nephew, Ralph Waldo Emerson, during his most formative years. extent of that influence--and the quality of Mary Emerson's own mind--are apparent, however, only through her extensive correspondence spanning seventy years.The Selected Letters of Mary Moody Emerson makes available for the first time this important collection of letters within the family papers and firmly establishes Mary as a woman of strong and independent mind. Moreover, as himself realized, his aunt's letters reveal much about the political, social, and religious concerns that dominated her age--the critical from the American Revolution to the Civil War. Mary rejoiced in what she called a period of wonderfull revolutions and through her correspondence engaged actively in the disputes of the time. During these years the new Constitution was tried and tested, most severely by slavery and the Civil War but also by the War of 1812, the rapid expansion westward, and the increasingly materialistic and capitalistic pursuits of the American people.These letters contain wide references to the people, events, and controversies of the period. They also reveal the impact of changing conditions on an individual woman--a woman of curiosity and self-reliance who sought to define herself in a patriarchal culture. Ralph Waldo once commented that in her prime Mary was the best writer in New England. letter became her art form, and she managed to transform it into a vehicle for free discussion. Her many correspondents--fifty-five in all--included her nephews William, Waldo, Edward, and Charles, as well as Charles's fiancee, Elizabeth Hoar, and Sarah Alden Bradford Ripley.For this edition, Nancy Simmons has chosen some 333 letters that represent the contours of Mary Emerson's life and thought. A valuable contribution to literary, historical, religious, and feminist scholarship, The Selected Letters of Mary Moody Emerson recovers from the footnotes of literary history a woman of considerable intellectual influence

Sociology · American Constitutional Law and Politics · Philosophy

• Mr. Emerson's Revolution

  Open Access•Phyllis Cole, Len Gougeon et al.•Mr. Emerson's Revolution•2015

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• Altars to the Beautiful Necessity”

  David Greenham•Journal of the History of Ideas•2015

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• Asia in Emerson and Emerson in Asia

  Open Access•Alan D Hodder, Alan Hodder•Mr. Emerson's Revolution•2015

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• In Praise of Second-Rate French Philosophy

  Joseph Urbas•Revue française d’études…•2015

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