Frances Wright

06 September 1795 - 13 December 1852

Standard Name: Wright, Frances

Birth Name: Frances Wright

Married Name: Frances D'Arusmont

Pseudonym: An Englishwoman

Pseudonym: A Woman

FW was a writer in many genres: her œuvre includes a tragedy and a philosophical essay, but is dominated by political and feminist social critique, much of it taking the apparently ephemeral forms of lectures and letters. John Stuart Mill called her one of the most important women of her day

Eckhardt, Celia Morris. Fanny Wright. Harvard University Press.

(that is, the earlier nineteenth century). The fact that much of her career was pursued in the United States means that she is often critically considered in the context of American literature and culture.

Full profile

Connections

Connections	Author name Sort descending	Excerpt
politics	Lydia Maria Child	LMC 's feminist ideas, though foreshadowed in her adolescent encounter with Milton, were slow to develop. When Frances Wright visited Boston in summer 1829 and gave a public lecture about women's rights, Child not only...
politics	Caroline Frances Cornwallis	The Eclectic Magazine once described her brand of feminism as less flighty than that of Frances Wright and less senselessly radical than that of Harriet Martineau (thus revealing a somewhat odd opinion of those two...
Textual Production	Catherine Fanshawe	The letters that CF sent to Anne Grant are not extant, but Grant's side of the correspondence leaves no doubt that the two were in constant dialogue about new books they had read, and their...
Friends, Associates	Eliza Fletcher	Hamilton, herself a conservative, set about de-demonizing EF 's political reputation. She had good success in persuading her friends that Mrs Fletcher was not the ferocious Democrat she had been represented, and that she neither...
Family and Intimate relationships	Margaret Fuller	Her father, Timothy Fuller , was also a teacher, then a lawyer and politician. A graduate of Harvard University , he served in both the Massachusetts senate and house of representatives, and he became a...
Friends, Associates	Mary Shelley	Another important friend of MS was the radical Frances Wright , who corresponded with her from 1827, and also put her in touch with Robert Owen's son Robert Dale Owen . Shelley, Mary. “Introduction”. Lodore, edited by Lisa Vargo, Broadview, pp. 9-45. 44 Vargo, Lisa. “<span data-tei-ns-tag="tei_title" data-tei-title-lvl=‘m’>Lodore</span> and the ’Novel of Society’”. Women’s Writing, Vol. 6 , No. 3, pp. 425-40. 431 The two...
Travel	Frances Trollope	Whether or not Frances Wright 's utopian colony was FT 's chosen final destination, the decision to leave it came swiftly after her arrival. She and her travelling companions were disappointed by the conditions at...
Friends, Associates	Frances Trollope	Her disillusionment with Nashoba further dampened FT 's original fascination with Fanny Wright 's unique sensibilities, a process already begun on the journey over from England. In a letter written the following year, FT
Friends, Associates	Frances Trollope	Further, while as a wealthy heiress the young Fanny had rejected all the extravagances and even the simple pleasures of an English moneyed lifestyle, FT found the reality of a sparse American existence difficult. She...
Friends, Associates	Frances Trollope	Though their friendship was short-lived, critic Susan Kissel remarks on the similarities between FT and Frances Wright : while they differed in their manners, sensibilities, politics, and approaches, both publicly denounced slavery, the mistreatment of...
Leisure and Society	Frances Trollope	Though FT had been a popular person in the places where she had lived in England, she did not fare as well with the American elite. Heineman suggests that the combination of her highly visible...
Textual Features	Frances Trollope	In part through to her friendship with the abolitionist, writer, and activist Frances Wright , FT became interested in the condition of African slaves and the question of the mental equality, or inequality between us...
Textual Production	Frances Trollope	During the 1850s FT also published the melodramatic novel The Old World and the New, drawing on her own experiences to pen a double story of migration. A poverty-stricken English family makes a melodramatic...
Reception	Frances Trollope	FT 's years of literary success were marked by tragedy: she lost two of her children to consumption, and eventually lost a third. Nadel, Ira Bruce, and William E. Fredeman, editors. Dictionary of Literary Biography 21. Gale Research. 21: 324 Heineman, Helen. Mrs. Trollope: The Triumphant Feminine in the Nineteenth Century. Ohio University Press. 135 However, her writing brought her into a supportive network...
Fictionalization	Frances Trollope	FT was one of the most popular authors of her day, and certainly one of its most controversial female authors, in many respects unrivalled in her experiments with female characterization and the range of social...

Timeline

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Texts

Wright, Frances. A Course of Popular Lectures. Office of the Free Enquirer, 1829.

Wright, Frances. A Few Days in Athens. Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, 1822.

Wright, Frances. Altorf. M. Carey, 1819.

Wright, Frances, and Robert Dale Owen. An Address to the Industrious Classes. Office of the Free Enquirer, 1830.

Wright, Frances. Biography, Notes and Political Letters. C. N. Baldwin, 1830.

Wright, Frances. Life, Letters and Lectures, 1834/1844. Arno, 1972.

Wright, Frances, editor. The Free Enquirer. Office of the Free Enquirer.

Wright, Frances. Views of Society and Manners in America. Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, 1821.