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Flint and fire: Selected letters of Dorothy Canfield Fisher
Abstract
Dorothy Canfield Fisher (1879-1958) was a best-selling author of the twenties and thirties and an arbiter of literary taste in America. As the most powerful voice on the Selection Committee of the Book-of-the-Month Club during its first thirty years, she helped discover and promote the careers of Pearl Buck, Isak Dinesen, and Richard Wright and brought many other important writers to the attention of the nation. In addition, she introduced the educational theories of Dr. Maria Montessori to the U.S., was the first president of the Adult Education Association, translated scholarly works from Italian, and wrote several highly-regarded books for children. Fisher's letters--including those to Buck, Willa Cather, Dinesen, W. E. B. Du Bois, Albert Einstein, Robert Frost, James Weldon Johnson, Margaret Mead, Margaret Sanger, James Thurber, E. B. White, Wright, and Anzia Yezierska--not only provide a wealth of information about the author herself, but also document major features of the cultural and literary landscape in the U.S. from 1900-1958. Among the subjects discussed in significant detail are: the "New Woman" and the suffrage movement, racial discrimination and the emergence of the N.A.A.C.P., the development of the national education system, both World Wars, the Depression, the rise of modernism in art, "local color" writing, book clubs, and the literary marketplace. The dissertation is comprised of an introductory essay on the correspondence and Fisher's place in the American literary canon, 185 letters which I have transcribed and annotated, a statement of editorial procedure, a chronology, and biographical profiles of the correspondents.
Subject Area
American literature|American studies|Womens studies
Recommended Citation
Madigan, Mark John, "Flint and fire: Selected letters of Dorothy Canfield Fisher" (1991). Doctoral Dissertations Available from Proquest. AAI9132883.
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations/AAI9132883