''Summer on the Lakes, in 1843'' is a nonfiction book by American writer and transcendentalist

Margaret Fuller Sarah Margaret Fuller (May 23, 1810 – July 19, 1850), sometimes referred to as Margaret Fuller Ossoli, was an American journalist, editor, critic, translator, and women's rights advocate associated with the American transcendentalism movemen ...

based on her experiences traveling to the

Great Lakes region The Great Lakes region of North America is a binational Canadian–American region that includes portions of the eight U.S. states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin along with the Canadian p ...

Background

Margaret Fuller wrote the book based on her travel journals while visiting the Great Lakes region and places like

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee is ...

Niagara Falls Niagara Falls () is a group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, spanning the border between the province of Ontario in Canada and the state of New York in the United States. The largest of the three is Horseshoe Falls, ...

, and

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...

.Blanchard, Paula. ''Margaret Fuller: From Transcendentalism to Revolution''. Reading, Massachusetts: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, 1987: 196. Along the way, she interacted with several Native Americans, including members of the

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

and the Chippewa tribes, which she considered anthropologically in the book and, ultimately, presented as people in need of sympathy. During her trip, she was accompanied by

Caroline Sturgis Tappan Caroline Sturgis Tappan (August 30, 1818 – October 20, 1888), commonly known as Caroline Sturgis, or "Cary" Sturgis, was an American Transcendentalist poet and artist. She is particularly known for her friendships and frequent correspondences wi ...

, a close friend and confidante who also was a catalyst to many of Fuller's ideas about art, women, and mysticism. The genre of the book is difficult to classify. Scholar Dorothy Z. Baker noted that the book has been variously defined as "Transcendental travelogue, a sketchbook, and a social and political tract".Baker, Dorothy Z. ''In Her Own Voice: Nineteenth-century American Women Essayists'' (Sherry Lee Linkon, editor). Taylor & Francis, 1997: 97.

Publication history and response

Fuller began working on the book upon her return to New England. She completed the manuscript on her 34th birthday in 1844. In preparing the book, she did further research on the region at the library at

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...

; she is believed to be the first woman allowed to use Harvard's library. The book was published in May 1844 by Little & Brown; it went into three printings in Fuller's lifetime. Critic

Evert Augustus Duyckinck Evert Augustus Duyckinck (pronounced DIE-KINK) (November 23, 1816 – August 13, 1878) was an American publisher and biographer. He was associated with the literary side of the Young America movement in New York. Biography He was born on Novemb ...

called it "the only genuine book, I can think of, this season." Some critics, however, disliked the lack of coherence in the book. Critic

Caleb Stetson Caleb Stetson (January 6, 1801 – January 1885) was an American businessman and politician from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. A Democrat, in 1852 he was elected to serve in the Massachusetts House of Representatives. In the legislature ...

in the ''Christian Examiner'' wrote that the book was made up of "things connected by no apparent link of association with the objects which seem to fill her eye and mind... except for the fact that they occurred in the course of her reading or were called up from the depths by some mysterious association".Matteson, John. ''The Lives of Margaret Fuller''. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2012: 237. An abridged version edited by her brother

Arthur Buckminster Fuller Arthur Buckminster Fuller (August 10, 1822 – December 11, 1862) was a Unitarian clergyman of the United States. Biography Fuller was born in Cambridgeport, Massachusetts on August 10, 1822. He was a son of United States Congressman Timothy Full ...

was published posthumously in 1856 in a collection titled ''At Home and Abroad; or, Things and Thoughts in American and Europe''.

References

External links

* * {{Authority control 1844 books Great Lakes region (U.S.)