The Story Of Mary Maclane & Other Writings

by Mary Maclane

edited by Penelope Rosemont

Publication date: January 1997
Paperback: $12.00

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Few books in US history have provoked more outrage and debate than The Story Of Mary MacLane did when it was first published in Chicago in 1902. With unprecedented frankness, the 19-year-old author revealed her utter scorn for conformity and Puritanism, her refusal to accept what she regarded as the stifling boredom and pettiness of middle class life, and her passionate insistence on sexual freedom, a life of adventure and excitement. Not for nothing has she been hailed as the first "New Woman" in literature, the first flapper, and a precursor of surrealism. This lively collection features the complete text of that signature work, plus a generous selection of her other writings, reprinted here for the first time; and edited and introduced by Penelope Rosemont. Two special sections focus on her short but sensational movie career and her long association with the city she eventually chose as her home; and includes critical appreciations of her work by other Chicago writers: Clarence Darrow, Henry Blake Fuller, and Harriet Monroe.

"The Story Of Mary MacLane is little short of a miracle. No more marvelous books was ever born of a sensitive, precocious brain." — Clarence Darrow