The Story of Mary MacLane
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- Chicago: Herbert S. Stone and Company, 1902
Chicago: Herbert S. Stone and Company, 1902. Very Good. Chicago: Herbert S. Stone and Company, 1902. First Edition. Octavo; publisher's red decorative cloth stamped in white, top edge gilt; 322pp.; frontispiece. Rubbed at edges with a few minor scuffs; stamping a trifle faded. Board corners and spine ends bumped and boards bowing slightly at fore-edge. Binding sound. Previous owner's name (Ewing) to first pastedown. Overall a Very Good copy.
The debut memoir written by the 19-year-old "Wild Woman of Butte." The Story of Mary MacLane was originally titled "I Await The Devil's Coming," and indeed, addresses the devil in affectionate terms throughout while dispensing her peripatetic philosophy. MacLane declares her love for herself and other women, in particular her former English teacher Fanny Corbin, "the Anemone Lady," writing of her "'Why am I not a man,' I say to the sand and barrenness with a certain strained, tense passion, 'that I might give this wonderful, dear, delicious woman an absolutely perfect love!'"
Elsewhere MacLane gives a sensual, philosophical discourse on eating an olive in three bites, declares her love for Napoleon, and takes Samuel Johnson down a peg remarking how hard it is to respect a man who didn't wash his neck and ears. Upon publication, the work was an absolute sensation, especially with younger women, though conservative critics predictably pilloried the work with many claiming it must have been written by a man. However, the influential publisher George Doran was an admirer and had a hand in its publication; upon reading the manuscript he noted "I discovered the most astounding and revealing piece of realism I had ever read. Clearly we could not publish it, but Mary must have a publisher."
An engrossing and important work of early 20th century Lesbian literature, raw, unflinching, and strikingly modern, echoing the famous diary of Marie Bashkirtseff, of whom MacLane characteristically writes, "yes, I am rather like her in many points, as I've been told. But in most things I go beyond her."
Hunter Dukes, "'I Am Making the World My Confessor': Mary MacLane, the Wild Woman from Butte." From The Public Domain Review, published April 23, 2025.
The debut memoir written by the 19-year-old "Wild Woman of Butte." The Story of Mary MacLane was originally titled "I Await The Devil's Coming," and indeed, addresses the devil in affectionate terms throughout while dispensing her peripatetic philosophy. MacLane declares her love for herself and other women, in particular her former English teacher Fanny Corbin, "the Anemone Lady," writing of her "'Why am I not a man,' I say to the sand and barrenness with a certain strained, tense passion, 'that I might give this wonderful, dear, delicious woman an absolutely perfect love!'"
Elsewhere MacLane gives a sensual, philosophical discourse on eating an olive in three bites, declares her love for Napoleon, and takes Samuel Johnson down a peg remarking how hard it is to respect a man who didn't wash his neck and ears. Upon publication, the work was an absolute sensation, especially with younger women, though conservative critics predictably pilloried the work with many claiming it must have been written by a man. However, the influential publisher George Doran was an admirer and had a hand in its publication; upon reading the manuscript he noted "I discovered the most astounding and revealing piece of realism I had ever read. Clearly we could not publish it, but Mary must have a publisher."
An engrossing and important work of early 20th century Lesbian literature, raw, unflinching, and strikingly modern, echoing the famous diary of Marie Bashkirtseff, of whom MacLane characteristically writes, "yes, I am rather like her in many points, as I've been told. But in most things I go beyond her."
Hunter Dukes, "'I Am Making the World My Confessor': Mary MacLane, the Wild Woman from Butte." From The Public Domain Review, published April 23, 2025.