Struggling Up to the Light.
Scarce Feminist Novel
French, Bella. Struggling Up to the Light. The Story of a Woman’s Life. Chicago: W.B. Keen, Cooke & Co., 1876.
8vo.; yellow endpapers; brown cloth; decoratively stamped in gilt and black; extremities bumped.
First edition of this moralizing tale about a girl named Martha Bright, “who overcomes a childhood of abuse and neglect, marries a man hostile to her talents and aspirations, and conquers the stigma of divorce to become a successful poet who writes particularly about the status of women”; in twenty chapters. In her Introduction to the book, French introduces readers to the Bright family: “Both parents wished to do about right, but like many another, they kept resolving to do better, but failed” (p. 7), and “While trying to see the hand of God in their afflictions, they were rebellious, letting their ill feelings have vent in finding fault with their children, their neighbors and the world” (p. 8).
This scarce feminist novel follows Martha from the tribulations of childhood to young adulthood, to her impending marriage – and a divorce – through sickness in her family (her mother’s invalidism), to problems she encountered after she opened a school, to her work and writing in a publishing office, and her success as a poet who writes about the status of women.
Religion plays a significant role in Martha’s life. Early in the story, Martha consoles herself that “we shall all be beautiful in heaven” (p. 12); the narrator reveals that Martha peoples an imaginary world for herself with angels; and that “She seemed moreover to have a double nature. When she soared away into the ideal world, her soul expanded until she felt as if she could grasp the universe in a great love that filled her bosom. Then she bowed in holy reverence to the good, the pure, and the true, and felt that God’s nature reigned in and about her” (p. 20).
French (1837-1894) was born in Georgia; her family moved to Wisconsin when she was about four years old. By age thirty she was the owner and publisher of the newspapers The Busy West, and The North-Western Chronotype. She later moved to Austin, Texas, where she published The American Sketch Book – which included a series on the history of Wisconsin – History of Brown County, Wisconsin; the History of Neillsville and Clark County, Wisconsin; and the History of Reedsburg, Wisconsin (all 1875) and History of Sparta, Wisconsin (1876). She also co-authored a book with Frank Johnson, titled, Why Editors and Authors Go Insane (1881). French became involved with health issues as the founder of the Thermo Water Cure Hot Air Bath and Hygienic Institute. She later settled in Sausalito, California.
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