Constance Fenimore Woolson (March 5, 1840 – January 24, 1894) was an American novelist, poet, and short story writer. She was a grandniece of James Fenimore Cooper, and is best known for fictions about the Great Lakes region, the American South, and American expatriates in Europe.

In 1893, Woolson rented an elegant apartment in the Palazzo Orio Semitecolo Benzon on the Grand Canal of Venice. Suffering from influenza and depression, she either jumped or fell to her death from a fourth story window in the apartment in January 1894, surviving for about an hour after the fall. Constance Fenimore Woolson: Homeward Bound, by Sharon L. Dean, Ardent Media, 1995, p. 38

Life and writings

In America: the story-writer Woolson was born in Claremont, New Hampshire, but her family soon moved to Cleveland, Ohio, after the deaths of three of her sisters from scarlet fever. Woolson was educated at the Cleveland Female Seminary and a boarding school in New York. She traveled extensively through the midwest and northeastern regions of the U.S. during her childhood and young adulthood.

Woolson's father died in 1869. The following year she began to publish fiction and essays in magazines such as The Atlantic Monthly and Harper's Magazine. Her first full-length publication was a children's book, The Old Stone House (1873). In 1875 she published her first volume of short stories, Castle Nowhere: Lake-Country Sketches, based on her experiences in the Great Lakes region, especially Mackinac Island.

From 1873 to 1879 Woolson spent winters with her mother in St. Augustine, Florida. During these visits she traveled widely in the South which gave her material for her next collection of short stories, Rodman the Keeper: Southern Sketches (1880). After her mother's death in 1879, Woolson went to Europe, staying at a succession of hotels in England, France, Italy, Switzerland and Germany.

In Europe: the novelist

Woolson published her first novel Anne in 1880, followed by three others: East Angels (1886), Jupiter Lights (1889) and Horace Chase (1894). In 1883 she published the novella For the Major, a story of the postwar South that has become one of her most respected fictions. In the winter of 1889–1890 she traveled to Egypt and Greece, which resulted in a collection of travel sketches, Mentone, Cairo and Corfu (published posthumously in 1896).

In 1893 Woolson rented an elegant apartment in the Palazzo Orio Semitecolo Benzon on the Grand Canal of Venice. Suffering from influenza and depression, she either jumped or fell to her death from a fourth story window in the apartment in January 1894, surviving for about an hour after the fall. She was buried in the Protestant Cemetery in Rome and is memorialized by Anne's Tablet on Mackinac Island, Michigan,Constance Fenimore Woolson: Homeward Bound, by Sharon L. Dean, Ardent Media, 1995, p. 38 and a niche with a slender silver trumpet vase in Christ Church in Cooperstown, New York.

Two volumes of her short stories appeared after her death: The Front Yard and Other Italian Stories (1895) and Dorothy and Other Italian Stories (1896).

Selected works Selected works of Constance Fenimore Woolson were printed (and reprinted) in several volumes of family biography by Woolson's niece, Clare Benedict. Five Generations: 1785-1923 is the general title for three volumes published in 1930: Voices Out of the Past (Vol. 1), Constance Fenimore Woolson (Vol. 2), and The Benedicts Abroad (Vol. 3). Benedict then reprinted the second volume of the series, Constance Fenimore Woolson, in 1932 and added selected published and unpublished materials in "Appendix A." In this reference section, the four volumes Benedict edited are referred to by "Benedict," the volume number, and "(1932)".Woolson Bibliography

Novels

The Old Stone House, 1873. (Under pseudonym Anne March.) Anne, 1880-1881.Harper's New Monthly Magazine 64 (December 1880): 28-45 (Ch. 1-2); 64 (January 1881): 218-238 (Ch. 3-4); 64 (February 1881): 399-415 (Ch. 5-6); 64 (March 1881): 556-572 (Ch. 7-8); 64 (April 1881): 718-727 (Ch. 9); 64 (May 1881): 847-863 (Ch. 10-11). Rpt. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1882; London: Sampson Low & Company, 1883; New York: Harper & Brothers, [1897?]; New York: Harper & Brothers (Biographical Edition) 1899; New York: Harper & Brothers, 1900, 1902; New York: Harper & Brothers, 1910; New York: Arno, 1982, 1997; Temecula, CA : Reprint Services Co., 1999. For the Major, 1882-1883.Harper's New Monthly Magazine 65 (November 1882): 907-917 (Ch. 1); 66 (December 1882): 93-105 (Ch. 2-3); 66 (January 1883): 243-250 (Ch. 4); 66 (February 1883): 405-414 (Ch. 5); 66 (March 1883): 564-571 (Ch. 6); 66 (April 1883): 749-764 (Ch. 7). Rpt. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1883; London: Sampson Low & Company, 1883; New York: Harper & Brothers, 1911; in For The Major and Selected Short Stories, edited by Rayburn S. Moore. New Haven, CT: New College and UP, 1967; New York: AMS, 1970. Rpt. Constance Fenimore Woolson: Per il Maggiore, edited and translated by Edoardo Grego. Palermo, Italy: Sellerio, 2005. East Angels, 1885-1886.Harper's New Monthly Magazine 70 (January 1885): 246-264 (Ch. 1); 70 (February 1885): 466-483 (Ch. 2-3); 70 (March 1885): 613-631 (Ch. 4-5); 70 (April 1885): 781-799 (Ch. 6); 70 (May 1885): 879-896 (Ch. 7); 71 (June 1885): 102-121 (Ch. 8); 71 (July 1885): 284-304 (Ch. 9-10); 71 (August 1885): 451-473 (Ch. 11-13); 71 (September 1885): 522-546 (Ch. 14-15); 71 (October 1885): 691-713 (Ch. 16-18); 71 (November 1885): 901-908 (Ch. 19); 72 (December 1885): 115-124 (Ch. 20); 72 (January 1886): 188-210 (Ch. 21-23); 72 (February 1886): 382-404 (Ch. 24-25); 72 (March 1886): 527-545 (Ch. 26-28); 72 (April 1886): 774-788 (Ch. 29); 72 (May 1886): 949-968 (Ch. 30-32). Rpt. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1886, 1898; London: Sampson Low & Company, 1886; Temecula, CA : Reprint Services Co., 1999. Jupiter Lights, 1889.Harper's New Monthly Magazine 78 (January 1889): 240-255 (Ch. 1-4); 78 (February 1889): 435-452 (Ch. 5-8); 78 (March 1889): 598-610 (Ch. 9-12); 78 (April 1889): 703-722 (Ch. 13-16); 78 (May 1889): 951-958 (Ch. 17-18); 79 (June 1889): 114-123 (Ch. 19-21); 79 (July 1889): 265-282 (Ch. 22-26); 79 (August 1889): 415-431 (Ch. 27-30); 79 (September 1889): 583-599 (Ch. 31-35). Rpt. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1889; London: Sampson Low & Company, 1889; New York: Harper & Brothers, 1900; Temecula, CA : Reprint Services Co., 1999. Horace Chase, 1893.Harper's New Monthly Magazine 86 (January 1893): 198-211 (Ch. 1-2); 86 (February 1893): 438-454 (Ch. 3-4); 86 (March 1893): 596-613 (Ch. 5-7); 86 (April 1893): 753-770 (Ch. 8-9); 86 (May 1893): 882-897 (Ch. 10-12); 87 (June 1893): 140-149 (Ch.13-14); 87 (July 1893): 276-286 (Ch. 15-17); 87 (August 1893): 414-423 (Ch. 18-19); 87 (September 1893): 595-602 (Ch. 20-21); 87 (October 1893): 755-770 (Ch. 22-24). Rpt. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1894; London: Osgood, McLlvaine & Company, 1894; Upper Saddle River, NJ: Literature house, 1970, 1984.

Short stories

Castle Nowhere: Lake-Country Sketches (1875). Rodman the Keeper: Southern Sketches (1880). The Front Yard and Other Italian Stories (1895). Dorothy and Other Italian Stories (1896).

Poetry Many of Woolson's poems are now available in the Chadwick-Healey database LION (Literature On-Line).

"Charles Dickens. Christmas, 1870."Harper's Bazar 3 (December 31, 1870): 842. Rpt. Benedict 3: 272. "In Memoriam," 1871.In Memoriam of George S. Benedict. [n. p.: n. p.], 1871: 80. Rpt. Benedict 3: 649-650. "Alas," 1871.In Memoriam of George S. Benedict. [n. p.: n. p.], 1871. Rpt. Benedict 4(1932): 495. "Thy Will Be Done," 1871.In Memoriam of George S. Benedict. [n.p.: n.p.], 1871. "The Herald's Cry," 1872.Lippincott's Magazine 9 (January 1872): 98. Reprint. Benedict 1: 75-77. "Love Unexpressed," 1872.Appletons' Journal 7 (March 9, 1872): 273. Rpt. New York Evangelist 61:42 (October 16, 1890): 6; Benedict 2: 83-85; in American Poetry: The Nineteenth Century, edited by John Hollander. New York: Library of America, 1993: 393-394. "Longing," 1872.Appletons' Journal 7 (June 22, 1872): 686. Rpt. Benedict 1: 284; Benedict 4 (1932): 418. "Walpurgis Night," 1872.Old and New 5 (January 1872): 61. Reprint. Benedict 4 (1932): 427. "The Heart of June," 1872.Massachusetts Ploughman and New England Journal of Agriculture. 31:35 (May 25, 1872): 4; The Galaxy 13 (June 1872): 816. Reprint. Benedict 4 (1932): 426; Nineteenth-Century American Women Poets, edited by Paula Bennett. Oxford: Blackwell, 1998. "Ideal. (The Artist Speaks.)" 1872.The Atlantic Monthly 30 (October 1872): 461. Rpt. Benedict 3: 651; Benedict 4 (1932): 548-549. "Corn Fields," 1872.Harper's New Monthly Magazine 45 (August 1872): 444. Reprint. Benedict 4 (1932): 428. "Lake Erie in September," 1872.Appletons' Journal 8 (October 12, 1872): 413. Reprint. Benedict 1: 190; Benedict 4 (1932): 429; in The Anthology of Western Reserve Literature, edited by David R. Anderson and Gladys Haddad. Kent, OH: Kent State UP, 1992. "Floating. Otsego Lake, September, 1872," 1872.The New York Evening Mail, September 14, 1872: 1. "October's Song," 1872.Harper's New Monthly Magazine 45 (October 1872): 753. Reprint. The Chautauquan 18:1 (October 1893): 122. "Christmas in the City," 1872.Appletons' Journal 8:196 (December 28, 1872): 724. "Off Thunder Bay," 1872.Harper's New Monthly Magazine 45 (July 1872): 168. Reprint. Benedict 1: 198-199; Benedict 4 (1932): 413-414. "Two Ways," 1873.Ohio Farmer 22:22 (April 12, 1873): 346; The Atlantic Monthly 31 (June 1873): 669-670. Reprint. Benedict 2: 85-87; Benedict 4 (1932): 85-87. "Sail-Rock, Lake Superior," 1873.Appletons' Journal 10 (July 12, 1873): 33-34. Reprint. Benedict 4 (1932): 415-416. "The Greatest of All is Charity," 1873.Harper's Bazar 6 (February 8, 1873): 90. "February," 1873.Appletons' Journal 4 (February 8, 1873): 210. "March," 1873.Harper's New Monthly Magazine 46 (March 18, 1873): 508. Reprint. Benedict 4 (1932): 77-79. "Commonplace," 1873.Ohio Farmer 22:15 (April 12, 1873): 234; Lippincott's Magazine 6 (February 1873): 59-60. Rpt. Benedict 4 (1932): 542-544. "Cleopatra," 1873.Appletons' Journal 10 (October 4, 1873): 419. "Memory," 1873.Appletons' Journal 10 (November 8, 1873): 597. "Heliotrope," 1873.Harper's New Monthly Magazine 47 (July 1873): 274. "Kentucky Belle. (Told in An Ohio Farm-House, 1868)," 1873. Appletons' Journal 10 (September 6, 1873): 289-290. Reprint. Benedict 1: 239-241; Benedict 4 (1932): 464-467. "The Haunting Face," 1873.Appletons' Journal 10 (December 6, 1873): 723. Reprint. Benedict 4 (1932): 547-548. "Hero Worship," 1873.Harper's New Monthly Magazine 47 (October 1873): 727. Reprint. Benedict 4 (1932): 544-545. "Delores," 1874.Appletons' Journal 12 (July 11, 1874): 33-34. Reprint. Benedict 1: 236-238; Benedict 4 (1932): 459-462. "At the Smithy. (Pickens County, South Carolina, 1874.)" 1874. Appletons' Journal 12 (September 5, 1874): 289-290. "Indian Summer," 1874.Appletons' Journal 12 (October 17, 1874): 500. Reprint. Benedict 4 (1932): 430. "Yellow Jessamine," 1874.Appletons' Journal 11 (March 21, 1874): 372. Reprint. Saturday Evening Post 53:37 (April 11, 1874): 3; Benedict 1: 235; Benedict 4 (1932): 463; in American Anthology, edited by Edmund Stedman. Boston, MA: Riverside, 1900: 460-461; in The Home Book of Verse, edited by Burton Stevenson. Boston: Henry Holt, 1953. "The Florida Beach," 1874.The Galaxy 18 (October 1874): 482-483. Reprint. Benedict 1: 232; Benedict 4 (1932): 458-59; in American Poetry: The Nineteenth Century, edited by John Hollander. New York: Library of America, 1993. Vol. 2: 394-95; in Constance Fenimore Woolson: Selected Stories and Travel Narratives, edited by Victoria Brehm and Sharon Dean. Knoxville, TN: U of Tennessee P, 2004. "Pine-Barrens," 1874.Harper's New Monthly Magazine 50 (December 1874): 66. Reprint. Benedict 1: 230; Benedict 4 (1932): 457-58.