Margaret Fuller, Wandering Pilgrim

Contents

Acknowledgments xi A Note to Readers xv Chronology xvii Prologue 1 part one “no natural childhood” 7 1 Her Father’s House 8 2 Hungry for Love 23 3 “Gate of Paradise” 30 4 The World of Books 33 part two the transition years 45 5 Boston Schooling 46 6 Boarding School at Groton 52 7 Metamorphosis in Her Young Adulthood 55 8 The Influence of the Harvard Romantics 62 9 The Search for Self 68 10 The Farm in Groton 71 part three emerson, epistolary friend and guide 84 11 The Search for a Guide 86 12 A Fluid Friendship 94 13 A “Forlorn” Boston Winter 100 14 Providence, Pain, and Escape into Illusion 105 15 “Drawn” by Fuller’s Siren Song 117 16 Retreat from Her Siphoning Sea 123 Contents part four the seductive lure of nature 136 17 Religious Crisis 138 18 A Divine Madness 140 19 The Siren Song of Nature 143 20 The Seductive Sand 145 21 Demonic Desires 150 22 “The Daemon Works His Will” 158 23 Redeeming Her Friendships from “Eros” 163 24 Mystic Cleansing 166 25 Paradise Regained 170 26 The Law of the Father and the Embrace of Mother Nature 173 part five the “fine castle” of her writing 178 27 A Time to Write 180 28 Millennial Fever 186 29 Fuller’s Apocalypse 188 30 Contradictory Wishes and Dreams 197 31 Pilgrims and Prodigals 199 32 Discordant Energies 204 33 Mesmerism and Romantic Yearning in Summer on the Lakes 207 34 Mother Power, Beastly Men, and Woman in the Nineteenth Century 214 35 “What Is the Lady Driving At?” 222 part six professional woman, private passion 228 36 A Divided Life 228 37 Fallen Women and Worldly Men 239 38 The Garden’s Desecration 247 39 Narcissistic Wounds and Imaginary Mystic Entities 250 40 Romantic Obsession 254 41 A Soul-Paralyzing Pain 258 viii Contents 42 A Trust Betrayed 261 43 The Dark Side of Her Lot 266 44 “Possessed of” Her Father 271 45 Yearning to Wash Her Soul of Sin 274 46 The Ties That Bind 277 part seven the rising tide of revolution 282 47 Passionate Players and Incendiary Social Conditions 282 48 Entering the European Stage 290 49 Mazzini Enters 295 50 Mickiewicz Enters 300 51 On to Lyons and Italy 306 52 On to Rome 309 53 Ossoli Enters 313 54 To Marry, or Not to Marry? 318 55 Do As the Romans Do 326 56 Roman Winter 335 57 More Rain and Revolutionaries’ Conflicting Aims 342 58 Personal and Political Rebellions 346 59 A Love Higher than Law or Passion 353 part eight apocalyptic dreams and the fall of rome 364 60 Harsh Reality and Apocalyptic Dreams 365 61 The Lull before the Storm 371 62 Deceit and Treachery 379 63 The Fall of Rome 385 64 Last Illusions 393 65 A Wayward Pilgrim Journeys Home 404 Notes 413 Bibliography 475 Index 493 Contents ix This page intentionally left blank ...