In a new account of the relationship between Margaret Fuller and Ralph Waldo Emerson, Christina Zwarg recreates a feminist conversation that has gone unheard. In Zwarg's view, the intimate, yet restrained, letters between the two writers are most significant in confronting the challenges posed by gender and desire. Focusing on their exploration of Charles Fourier's utopianism and particularly his concept of "passionate attraction," Zwarg offers the only detailed reading of Emerson's letters to Fuller.

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This theoretically dense, well-researched book focuses on the relationship between two great 19th-century intellectuals: Ralph Waldo Emerson and Margaret Fuller.... Because of its originality and excellent research, this book will be mandatory reading for Fuller and Emerson scholars and those interested in the development of 19th-century women's writing.