Finding Margaret Fuller: A Novel

A philosopher and essayist, Ralph Waldo Emerson (“Waldo” in the novel) was a central figure in the transcendental movement, which emphasized intuition and imagination rather than empirical knowledge in the human search for the divine. Emerson’s focus on self-reliance threatened the Christian Church’s role as an intermediary between God and man. In the novel, Emerson is Margaret’s mentor and encourages her to pursue a literary career. Though smitten with her, he insists that their relationship remain platonic. Emerson’s home in Concord, Massachusetts, becomes the center of the transcendental community and stimulates the work of many of the movement’s literary luminaries. After hearing the news of Margaret’s death, Emerson sends Thoreau to Fire Island to salvage any trace of Margaret’s papers, but nothing can be found.

As the story opens, Emerson’s second wife, Lidian, is expecting the couple’s first child. Unlike her husband, Lidian isn’t interested in the imaginative flights of the transcendentalists. She’s a practical woman who engages in charity work to help the community. Margaret’s presence among Waldo and his friends threatens Lidian. She knows that her husband idealizes the young author and resents her many visits to their home. However, she doesn’t try to keep Margaret away, knowing that Waldo married her rather than the woman he loves from afar.

In the novel, Henry David Thoreau is the handyman who helps maintain the Emerson household, doing all manner of tasks to keep things running efficiently. In addition, he’s a naturalist who offers Margaret insight into the workings of nature. Thoreau later wrote the famous autobiography Walden about his time living in a cabin on Walden Pond. The novel depicts him as pragmatic and capable. In a crisis, he seems the most grounded of the members of the transcendental group. After Margaret’s shipwreck, at Waldo’s urging Thoreau goes to Fire Island to try (unsuccessfully) to salvage any trace of her.

A budding writer at the beginning of the novel, Nathaniel Hawthorne is handsome and is attracted to Margaret. Much like Emerson, however, he seems content to worship her from afar. Over the course of the story, Hawthorne marries a meek woman and they have a daughter, but his devotion to Margaret nonetheless continues. Hawthorne, whose wife was Sophia Peabody (as in the novel), later wrote the novel The Scarlet Letter. Many believe that he modeled the character of Hester Prynne after Margaret.

The founder and editor of the New York Tribune, Horace Greeley was a progressive who believed in the emancipation of enslaved people and in equal rights for women. In the novel, when Greeley first meets Margaret, she impresses him, and he offers her an editorial position at his paper. He later sends her overseas as America’s first foreign correspondent. He’s particularly interested in the Italian Unification movement and is chiefly responsible for Margaret’s life-changing visit to Rome.

A handsome Italian nobleman, Giovanni Ossoli falls in love with Margaret and marries her. Since his family would object to the union, Giovanni keeps the connection secret until after he receives his inheritance. As a member of the Civic Guard, he’s called to defend Rome during the French attack on the city. When the siege ends, Giovanni’s life is in danger, so he flees the country with Margaret and their young son. All three drown when their ship strikes a sandbar off the coast of New York.

A celebrated French author and iconoclast, George Sand (born (Amantine Dupin de Francueil) flouted convention, assuming a man’s first name as her pen name, wearing men’s clothing, and smoking cigars. She took multiple lovers and was particularly known for her romance with composer Frederic Chopin. In the novel, she inspires Margaret, emboldening her to live her own life more independently after seeing Sand’s liberated lifestyle and how French society accepted it.

English poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning was married to Robert Browning. The two eloped despite their families’ objections. In the novel, Elizabeth meets Margaret after the latter flees with her family to Tuscany. Like George Sand, Elizabeth is a role model and inspiration to Margaret.

A well-known literary critic and author, Edgar Allan Poe’s poem “The Raven” made him famous. Initially, the novel depicts him as disliking Margaret’s work, publishing negative reviews of her books, and even publicly mocking her. A few years later, he came to respect her views and was quoted as saying, “Humanity is divided into men, women, and Margaret Fuller” (239).

Self-taught philosopher and educator Bronson Alcott was a member of the transcendental movement and the father of Louisa May Alcott. In the novel, he gives Margaret a teaching job but never pays her. His unorthodox views on education raise the ire of Bostonians, and he must temporarily flee the country. Margaret sees him as a man who makes promises he can’t keep.

One of Bronson’s daughters, she’s still a child in the novel when she comes to know Margaret and grows attached to her. In adulthood, Louisa never married and participated in the movement for women’s rights. She’s best known for writing the classic Little Women.