Talk:Fanny Fern

Biography assessment rating comment

The article may be improved by following the WikiProject Biography 11 easy steps to producing at least a B article. --KenWalker | Talk 04:51, 6 July 2007 (UTC)

Note on notes

The current version of the article as I write this uses "Ibid" in reference to Joyce Warren. This is not Warren's book which is listed under "References" but her introduction to Ruth Hall. I tend to believe that introductions with roman numeral page numbers are not the best sources. I recommend replacing them; I'll do what I can. --Midnightdreary (talk) 12:28, 3 August 2008 (UTC)

Fanny Fern lede

Hello! Thank you for the great work on the oft-neglected article for Fanny Fern. I'm looking at the lede and wanted to get your opinion. As it is, the first sentence seems especially awkward. I preferred the version that said something to the effect of, "Fanny Fern is the pseudonym of American writer Sara Payson Willis". I also have to take issue that "Fanny Fern" was chosen specifically when she started her full-time work as a columnist; my understanding is that it predates that (the article does not suggest it either way). May I ask where you got that information? --Midnightdreary (talk) 21:22, 19 January 2011 (UTC)

Hi, Midnight, thanks for your comments. I'm experimenting with the lede, having seen others that say "born so-and-so", but agree the segue to her pen name is awkward. May have misread the reference - thought it said that she started using Fern with the column - maybe that was the first time Fern appeared in print. Will try to find the reference.Parkwells (talk) 21:30, 19 January 2011 (UTC)

Warren, p. 99.Parkwells (talk) 21:57, 19 January 2011 (UTC)

Currently it starts 'Fanny Fern, born Sara Willis Parton', which seems doubly wrong: it implies that her name was later changed to Fanny Fern, although nothing in the articles suggests this ever became more than a pen name; and according to 'Early life', 'Sarah Payson Willis was born ...' which rings truer as regards her name at birth (or shortly after). As we are later told that she marries a Parton in her forties, the lede statement looks very suspect!

It would be much clearer if the article followed the example of the Lewis Carroll article, which begins

'Charles Lutwidge Dodgson ( /ˈtʃɑrlz ˈlʌtwɪdʒ ˈdɒdʒsən/ charlz lut-wij doj-sən;[1][2] 27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898), better known by the pseudonym Lewis Carroll'

and refers to the writer as Dodgson throughout, despite his fame as Lewis Carroll.

I don't feel qualified to correct all this as the only facts I know about this writer who, it seems, should perhaps be called Sara Willis in biographical contexts, are those I glean with difficulty in this article. I came here for information about her having come across 'Folly as it flies' as a project in proofreading for Gutenburg, and the article stimulated my interest in her, but confused me very much in the garbling of names. Perhaps it has been subject to some minor vandalism?--Alkhowarizmi (talk) 06:00, 28 October 2011 (UTC)

You make a good point, but I see no evidence of vandalism. She definitely went by "Fanny Fern" in person and in correspondence at least some of the time, but definitely never changed her name legally. She, of course, disassociated from the family that spurned her (Willis) and her rapist second husband (Farrington), but was definitely no longer Eldredge by the time of her third marriage to Parton. Her biographies and critical writings about her - then and now - seem to call her Fanny Fern almost exclusively. The current version does not confuse me, personally, but it might be strange for others. We could start the article with something like: "Fanny Fern was the pseudonym of Sara Payson Willis." I made one minor change that might help; let me know what you think. --Midnightdreary (talk) 14:54, 28 October 2011 (UTC)

External links modified

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Updates

What updates are people thinking of creating here? I haven't seen action here for a bit. Zabetawright (talk) 20:35, 12 October 2022 (UTC)