Posted by Gayle on March 16, 2000 at 17:17:39:
In Reply to: Calling Ms. Gayle Clark...question please? posted by Diana on March 16, 2000 at 14:07:50:
: Dear Gayle,
: I hope I am not going to appear to be the only one that was absent the day we discussed Mr. Cooper's pseudonym, Jane Morgan. While looking through the Gutenberg etexts, I spied an offering "Tales for Fifteen; or Heart and Imagination" which listed the author as JFC aka Jane Morgan. In reading a little of the introduction, this work was "intended for perusal of young women." Have we discussed this before? I hadn't heard of it until now. Did JFC attempt this little diversion for a quick buck or something along those lines? Any thoughts you have on this will be most appreciated (as always!)
: Diana
Hi, Diana! You're ahead of me here - I knew Hugh MacDougall of the James Fenimore Cooper Society has been actively engaged in preparing selected hard-to-find texts by both James and Susan Fenimore Cooper, and placing them on-line under the Gutenberg Project. for Gutenberg Press, but I have not gotten in to look at it yet. So he's got it up - grand! I am eager to take a look. In addition to "Tales for Fifteen", he has put up "Autobiography of a Pocket-Handkerchief" and "The Lake Gun" by JFC; "Elinor Wyllys", "Female Suffrage: A Letter to the Christian Women of America", and "The Lumley Autograph" by Susan Fenimore Cooper. I'll include the link below, so anybody else interested can take a look at them.
As for Cooper's pseudonym, Cooper wrote several of his early works under a pen name before he had gauged the acceptance of his work with the public. As I understand it, it was common for writers in that time to use a feminine pseudo for just the reason indicated - the particular audience for which the work was intended. But there is more of a story there, and I can't bring the details to mind. The best person to ask is Hugh, himself. His E-mail address is jfcooper@wpe.com. He would be very pleased to know that people are interested in these texts, since he has put a mega-amount of work into them.
FYI: If there was a discussion of Cooper's pseudonym on our Board, I missed it too, so don't feel bad.
Gayle