1. Ashley Reed’s Final Presentation: The Way We Think about Fanny Fern The Way We Think about Fanny Fern

2. A Review of Conceptual Blending  an innate imaginative ability based on the construction and manipulation of mental spaces  Four kinds (simplex, mirror, single-scope and double-scope) but only humans are capable of forming double-scope blends  Explored at length in Gilles Fauconnier and Mark Turner’s The Way We Think  an innate imaginative ability based on the construction and manipulation of mental spaces  Four kinds (simplex, mirror, single-scope and double-scope) but only humans are capable of forming double-scope blends  Explored at length in Gilles Fauconnier and Mark Turner’s The Way We Think

3. My Project: To examine the ways in which Fanny Fern’s 1855 novel Ruth Hall and aspects of Fern’s own biography illustrate the principles of conceptual blending

4. Sara Payson Willis Parton aka Fanny Fern  Born July 9, 1811 in Portland, Maine  May 4, 1837: Marries Charles Harrington eldredge, who dies in 1846  1849: Marries Samuel P. Farrington, but leaves him 2 years later  1851: Publishes her first short story  1855: Publishes her fictionalized autobiography, Ruth Hall  1856: Begins writing exclusively for the New York Ledger and marries James Parton  Dies October 10, 1872  Born July 9, 1811 in Portland, Maine  May 4, 1837: Marries Charles Harrington eldredge, who dies in 1846  1849: Marries Samuel P. Farrington, but leaves him 2 years later  1851: Publishes her first short story  1855: Publishes her fictionalized autobiography, Ruth Hall  1856: Begins writing exclusively for the New York Ledger and marries James Parton  Dies October 10, 1872

5. Blending at all levels…  Textual  Metatextual  Biographical  Textual  Metatextual  Biographical

6. the “Business is Personal” blend Romantic interest, Coyness, Goal of marriage Financial interest Caution Goal of “sealing the deal” Personal interaction, Potential for permanence, obligation Contract-as- marriage, Partners-as- spouses Input 2: Business and contracts Input 1: Flirtation and wooing Generic Blend

7. Metatextual blends  Ruth Hall as a “novel by columns”  Ruth Hall as fictionalized autobiography  Ruth Hall as a “novel by columns”  Ruth Hall as fictionalized autobiography

8. Fanny Fern’s Biographical Blending  When sewing and teaching fail…  Inventing a new career: the exclusive weekly columnist  Keeping what was hers  When sewing and teaching fail…  Inventing a new career: the exclusive weekly columnist  Keeping what was hers

9. Bibliography Baym, Nina: Woman’s Fiction: A Guide to Novels By and About Women in America, 1820-1870. Ithaca: Cornell Up, 1973. Belasco, Susan. Introduction. Ruth Hall. New York: Penguin, 1997. Fauconnier, Gilles and Mark Turner. The Way We Think: Conceptual Blending and the Mind’s Hidden Complexities. New York: Basic Books, 2002. Fern, Fanny (sara Payson Willis Parton). Ruth Hall: A Domestic Tale of the Present time. New York: Penguin, 1997. Walker, Nancy A. Fanny Fern. New York: Twayne, 1993. Warren, Joyce A. Fanny Fern: An Independent Woman. New Brunswick: Rutgers UP, 1992. Baym, Nina: Woman’s Fiction: A Guide to Novels By and About Women in America, 1820-1870. Ithaca: Cornell Up, 1973. Belasco, Susan. Introduction. Ruth Hall. New York: Penguin, 1997. Fauconnier, Gilles and Mark Turner. The Way We Think: Conceptual Blending and the Mind’s Hidden Complexities. New York: Basic Books, 2002. Fern, Fanny (sara Payson Willis Parton). Ruth Hall: A Domestic Tale of the Present time. New York: Penguin, 1997. Walker, Nancy A. Fanny Fern. New York: Twayne, 1993. Warren, Joyce A. Fanny Fern: An Independent Woman. New Brunswick: Rutgers UP, 1992.