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A Girl among the Anarchists

by Cara Hoffman, March 21, 2011 12:30 PM
In 1903, two adolescent sisters, Helen and Olivia Rosetti, published a novel under the pseudonym Isabel Meredith in which they chronicled their lives as radicals, propagandists, and key figures in the European anarchist movement. A glimpse of true intellectual freedom, the novel, A Girl among the Anarchists may be one of the most critically untouched and unacknowledged feminist works of the 20th century.

The book was unprecedented for the scope of its political content, a rare coming-of-age tale that called for complete sexual equality and the violent destruction of religion and state rule. It was revelatory of day to day life in a Victorian-era underground movement, and a keen study of radical and active responses to the universal feelings of rage, boredom, and resignation that to this day remain at the heart of experience for many adolescent women.

The protagonist, Isabel Meredith, is an intelligent, highly capable, sexually active teenage girl with a sense of humor and a sense of pride. She is an orphan living on inheritance who fights beside, organizes, and leads mostly adult men in the struggle for revolution. The book was sophisticated enough to criticize and satirize the actions of (mostly male) political activists, without condemning their sentiments and philosophies.

The novel was poorly received and, many critics agree, poorly written, but A Girl among the Anarchists is a text that shouldn't be lost, especially because the story is true and because our images of girls and women in the Victorian era are predominantly prissy, repressed, and ignorant. At 14 and 16 years old, the Rosetti sisters were publishing works by George Bernard Shaw, hob-nobbing with the anarchist firebrand Peter Kropotkin, and hanging out with Emma Goldman, who wrote about their accomplishments and saw them generally as good news for the future of the movement.

Books like A Girl among the Anarchists are important because they remind us that even in the 1890s there were women and girls calling for birth control, abortion rights, equal pay, equal treatment, and sexual freedom. In fact, women and girls have been calling for these things throughout human history, and we shouldn't be thrown by the common narrative that tells us the fight for equal rights and justice is a recent occurrence, a struggle confined to the various waves of feminism. The narrative that tells us the fight for women's equality is still essentially a new idea and that we need to be patient is an utter lie. The last thing we need, and the last thing the Rosetti girls would approve of, is patience in the face of repression.

Ultimately the beauty of A Girl among the Anarchists is that the protagonist is brilliant and does whatever the hell she wants. Characters like Alice Piper and Vanessa Michael Munroe, and, yes, even Lisbeth Salander are not new creatures. Their sisters have existed throughout history, and not all of them, thanks to the Rosettis, went undocumented.




Books mentioned in this post

So Much Pretty

Cara Hoffman

A Girl among the Anarchists

Isabel Meredith
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4 Responses to "A Girl among the Anarchists"

Rebecca March 22, 2011 at 05:42 PM
I love knowing about girl teenage heroes! I want to read this book, if I can find it...

tom March 22, 2011 at 01:35 PM
"Cara Hoffman grew up in an economically depressed town in upstate New York" - there are probably 3 towns in all of Upstate New York that do not meet this description.

Sarah March 22, 2011 at 07:00 AM
I get a kick out of the notion that characters like Lisbeth Salander aren't as new and revolutionary as everyone thinks. Not to knock her, or Stieg Larsson for bringing her to the forefront, but I think it's fascinating that "Isabel Meredith" existed and I love to see today's writers digging back into the past to remind us that feminism is not a new idea!

ToniK March 21, 2011 at 06:59 PM
The subgenre of the brilliant, does whatever the hell she wants female protagonist deserves more entries and more attention. I wish I had read this book when I was going through my own adolescent rage & boredom (not so much resignation).

Result(s) 4

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