The Sturdy Oak (New Edition) - Paperback

by Elizabeth Jordan (Author), June Purvis (Introduction by)

An early novel in the First Wave of Feminism, with original proceeds donated to the suffrage movement, written by fourteen different, popular writers of the early Twentieth Century.

With a new introduction placing The Sturdy Oak as a foundational story of feminist literature, this composite novel, written by fourteen popular authors including nine women, was drawn together during first wave of feminism when the status of women in American life was brought into the spotlight. All proceeds of the book were donated to the Suffrage cause and the tale itself sought to reveal the tensions and expectations in Whitewater, a fictional district of New York. Jordan's assembled team of writers sought to undermine the stereotypical idea of the sturdy oak (the traditional male) with its clinging vines (the women) requiring his support.

Foundations of Feminist Fiction. The early 1900s saw a quiet revolution in literature dominated by male adventure heroes. Both men and women moved beyond the norms of the male gaze to write from a different gender perspective, sometimes with female protagonists, but also expressing the universal freedom to write on any subject whatsoever.

Author Biography

Elizabeth Garver Jordan, active at the beginning of the Twentieth Century, was an American journalist, author, editor, and suffragist. She was both a woman of her time, energetic, forceful and an excellent social networker, while building the foundations for equality and social justice by actions and her lifestyle. She edited the first two novels of Sinclair Lewis and was editor of Harper's Bazaar from 1900 to 1913. Jordan never married, residing in an elegant house in Gramercy Square with her mother Margaretta Jordan. She was a noted hostess and had a large circle of friends, including Frances Hodgson Burnett and Henry James. In 1918 she was asked to be a script consultant with Goldwyn Pictures at its Fort Lee, New Jersey, studio. She produced almost a novel a year for the rest of her life, including an autobiography Three Rousing Cheers (1938). In 1922, she began a theater column for the Catholic weekly, America, which she continued until her retirement in 1945.