Frances Wright

-
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.
1
(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.
Portrait of Frances Wright by Henry Inman, 1824. She is looking to the left, plainly dressed in black with a red and white scarves, her brown, curly, shoulder-length hair parted in the middle.

Connections

Connections Author name Excerpt
Friends, Associates Anna Wheeler
She nevertheless became an important link between French and English socialists, a friend not only of Fourier, but also of Flora Tristan , Frances Wright , Desirée Veret , and Jeanne Victoire .
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.
Travel Frances Trollope
In 1826 the Trollopes visited Paris again, where discussion amidst her circle often turned to Frances Wright 's communal-living experiment Nashoba in western Tennessee. Wright had purchased slaves whom she intended to educate and...
Wealth and Poverty Frances Trollope
Facing destitution, and perhaps feeling unsure of her husband's ability to support the family, FT decided to take her two daughters, Cecilia and Emily , sixteen-year-old Henry , Auguste Hervieu , two servants, and most...
Residence Frances Trollope
Frances Eleanor writes of FT 's determination to fix the family's financial situation by eventually having all the Trollopes move to Cincinnati, where they planned to sell imported goods and perhaps establish a market...
Travel Frances Trollope
Their first stop was New Orleans, where FT was first exposed to the American system of slavery that she came to loathe and denounce in her writings. She reflects on the prejudice against the...
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...
Travel Frances Trollope
On this visit to Paris, Frances Wright persuaded FT to travel with her to her commune, Nashoba , in Tennessee.
Heineman, Helen. Mrs. Trollope: The Triumphant Feminine in the Nineteenth Century. Ohio University Press.
45-6

Timeline

No timeline events available.

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.