Edna Ferber's women characters, 1911--1930, and the reinterpretation of the American Dream through a female lens

Edna Ferber (1885-1963) was a Pulitzer Prize-winning author and one of the most popular writers of her time. Today, however, she is rarely read in schools or colleges, although her plays are still produced, and the films based on her novels, plays and short stories continue to be appreciated by classic film lovers. This thesis demonstrates how Edna Ferber created female characters in the early years of the twentieth century who struggled against the constraints of society's traditional female roles, who were the first in their nontraditional professions, and who achieved their own version of the American Dream. Edna Ferber also revisited American history with stories that highlighted women's contributions to America.;This thesis first introduces Edna Ferber, her background and her early years drawing from Ferber's two autobiographies, A Peculiar Treasure, 1939, and A Kind of Magic, 1963. Second, it discusses the New Woman at the turn of the century; the American Dream, historically and in relation to Ferber's female characters; and Edna Ferber as a middlebrow modern writer whose literary output had powerful cultural agency. In addition, it shows how Edna Ferber used small town Midwestern settings to explore and resolve the female conflict between commitment to family/community and self-actualization. The focus is on Edna Ferber's work written between 1911 and 1930: the short stories about Emma McChesney in three collections, Roast Beef Medium 1913, Personality Plus 1914, and Emma McChesney & Co. 1915, and six novels, Dawn O'Hara 1911, Fanny Herself 1917, The Girls 1921, So Big 1924, Show Boat 1926, and Cimarron 1930, written during a time of significant change for women in America. In conclusion, the thesis demonstrates how, at a critical juncture in American history, these stories of independent, successful women served as both model and inspiration to Ferber's large female audience. Edna Ferber's bedrock belief in America and American women is what allowed her and her female characters to interpret the American Dream through a female lens.