Complete Works--Margaret Fuller
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Reading and Writing Workshop
Margaret Fuller: Voice of Intellect, Spirit, and Reform
Session 1: Introduction to Margaret Fuller and Her Intellectual World
Reading:
Selections from Memoirs of Margaret Fuller Ossoli (compiled by R.W. Emerson, W.H. Channing, and J.F. Clarke)
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/11472
Focus:
Write a reflective piece comparing Fuller’s path to self-education and your own aspirations as a thinker and writer.
Session 2: “The Great Lawsuit: Man versus Men. Woman versus Women” (1843)
Reading:
Excerpted essay from The Dial
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/28144
(This is the expanded version: Woman in the Nineteenth Century)
Focus:
Analyze Fuller’s metaphor of the “great lawsuit.” How does she structure her argument for equality?
Session 3: Woman in the Nineteenth Century (1845)
Reading:
Woman in the Nineteenth Century
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/28144
Focus:
Choose a passage and annotate it. Then write a short essay explaining how Fuller balances emotion and logic to persuade her readers.
Session 4: Fuller as a Journalist – New-York Tribune Essays
Reading:
Selections from Margaret Fuller: By Her Friends, especially reprints of her New-York Tribune columns
https://archive.org/details/margaretfullerby00higd
Focus:
Write your own newspaper article as if you were a foreign correspondent covering a current event. Emulate Fuller’s voice and blend personal insight with reporting.
Session 5: Literary Criticism and Cultural Commentary
Reading:
Literary reviews from Papers on Literature and Art
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/11157
Focus:
Write a review of a novel, film, or play from a “Fullerian” perspective—how does it reflect the moral or social conditions of the time?
Session 6: Nature, Soul, and the Transcendental Mind
Reading:
Correspondence and nature reflections from Memoirs of Margaret Fuller Ossoli
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/11472
Focus:
Compose a personal essay exploring your relationship with nature. How does the natural world reflect or challenge your inner life?
Session 7: Dialogue and Social Reform
Reading:
Excerpts from Woman in the Nineteenth Century and her Tribune essays on prison reform, abolition, and the poor
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/28144
https://archive.org/details/margaretfullerby00higd
Focus:
Stage a written dialogue between Fuller and a modern activist (e.g., Malala Yousafzai or Greta Thunberg). Explore what they would agree or disagree on.
Session 8: Fuller’s Legacy
Reading:
Final chapters from Memoirs of Margaret Fuller Ossoli (Death and posthumous reflections)
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/11472
Focus:
Choose one of the following:
Session 1: Introduction to Margaret Fuller and Her Intellectual World
Reading:
Selections from Memoirs of Margaret Fuller Ossoli (compiled by R.W. Emerson, W.H. Channing, and J.F. Clarke)
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/11472
Focus:
- Fuller’s early life and intellectual development
- The Transcendentalist circle
- Journal response: “What is an intellectual life, and how did Fuller define hers?”
Write a reflective piece comparing Fuller’s path to self-education and your own aspirations as a thinker and writer.
Session 2: “The Great Lawsuit: Man versus Men. Woman versus Women” (1843)
Reading:
Excerpted essay from The Dial
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/28144
(This is the expanded version: Woman in the Nineteenth Century)
Focus:
- Gender equality in Fuller’s rhetoric
- Use of philosophical and historical references
- Introduction to Transcendental feminism
Analyze Fuller’s metaphor of the “great lawsuit.” How does she structure her argument for equality?
Session 3: Woman in the Nineteenth Century (1845)
Reading:
Woman in the Nineteenth Century
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/28144
Focus:
- Expansion of “The Great Lawsuit”
- Rhetorical devices: ethos, pathos, and logos
- The philosophical roots of Fuller’s feminism
Choose a passage and annotate it. Then write a short essay explaining how Fuller balances emotion and logic to persuade her readers.
Session 4: Fuller as a Journalist – New-York Tribune Essays
Reading:
Selections from Margaret Fuller: By Her Friends, especially reprints of her New-York Tribune columns
https://archive.org/details/margaretfullerby00higd
Focus:
- Fuller’s role as America’s first female foreign correspondent
- Observational and political writing
- Her reports on the Italian Revolution
Write your own newspaper article as if you were a foreign correspondent covering a current event. Emulate Fuller’s voice and blend personal insight with reporting.
Session 5: Literary Criticism and Cultural Commentary
Reading:
Literary reviews from Papers on Literature and Art
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/11157
Focus:
- Fuller’s criticism of American and European literature
- The role of art and literature in moral and social development
- Her views on Goethe, Carlyle, and Emerson
Write a review of a novel, film, or play from a “Fullerian” perspective—how does it reflect the moral or social conditions of the time?
Session 6: Nature, Soul, and the Transcendental Mind
Reading:
Correspondence and nature reflections from Memoirs of Margaret Fuller Ossoli
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/11472
Focus:
- Nature as a mirror for the soul
- Fuller’s spiritual and Transcendentalist philosophy
- Connection to Emerson and Thoreau
Compose a personal essay exploring your relationship with nature. How does the natural world reflect or challenge your inner life?
Session 7: Dialogue and Social Reform
Reading:
Excerpts from Woman in the Nineteenth Century and her Tribune essays on prison reform, abolition, and the poor
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/28144
https://archive.org/details/margaretfullerby00higd
Focus:
- Fuller’s engagement with reform movements
- Dialogue as a rhetorical and democratic tool
- Her belief in moral uplift and education
Stage a written dialogue between Fuller and a modern activist (e.g., Malala Yousafzai or Greta Thunberg). Explore what they would agree or disagree on.
Session 8: Fuller’s Legacy
Reading:
Final chapters from Memoirs of Margaret Fuller Ossoli (Death and posthumous reflections)
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/11472
Focus:
- The impact of Fuller’s writings after her death
- The shaping of her public memory
- Reflections on her role in shaping American letters and feminism
Choose one of the following:
- A personal manifesto inspired by Fuller’s ideas
- A research essay on Fuller’s influence on a specific writer or thinker
- A creative piece (e.g., letter, poem, or fictional scene) that imagines Fuller living and writing today