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Victorian Iconoclast: Eliza Cook (1812–1889)

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Celebrity Authorship and Afterlives in English and American Literature

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Abstract

At the fin de siècle, Eliza Cook was only vaguely remembered as a working-class poet of yesteryear. Yet from the late 1830s to the 1860s, she was one of the most popular poets in Great Britain and America. This chapter charts Cook’s rise to fame, demonstrating how her working-class roots, outspoken feminism, and masculine attire established her as an iconoclastic celebrity. It then traces the transatlantic development of Cook’s career, showing how the American press appropriated her poetry and her persona. It also explores how changing conceptions of women’s celebrity at mid-century led to Cook’s marginalization within the emerging canon of ‘great’ women authors.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, MN, USA

    Alexis Easley

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  1. Alexis Easley
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Humanities, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Gaston Franssen

  2. Faculty of Humanities, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands

    Rick Honings

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© 2016 The Author(s)

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Easley, A. (2016). Victorian Iconoclast: Eliza Cook (1812–1889). In: Franssen, G., Honings, R. (eds) Celebrity Authorship and Afterlives in English and American Literature. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-55868-8_4

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