Constance Fenimore Woolson: Her life in her work

The fiction of Constance Fenimore Woolson mirrors her own life as she struggles to find success in the literary world during the last quarter of the nineteenth century. At that time, the literary world was dominated and controlled by males. In her fiction, Woolson explored three major themes: isolation, a daughter's place in the family, and the struggle for success and acceptance in the literary world. Although Woolson enjoyed great success during her lifetime, her work disappeared from the literary scene after the turn of the century. Beginning in the 1970s, her fiction was rediscovered and studied by critics and scholars who found much to praise and admire. Woolson may soon be restored to her rightful place in literary history based on fiction worth reading and a life worth admiring.