Recovering a lost feminist story of scandal and strength for a new generation

Out of print in the United States since its original publication in 1915, Susan Glaspell’s largely forgotten novel Fidelity tells the story of Ruth Holland, a young woman who returns to her small Midwestern hometown after eleven years’ absence. Forced home by the death of her father, Ruth must face a family and community that have largely turned against her following her affair with a married man.

Glaspell, mostly known as a playwright and for her founding of the Provincetown Players, was also an accomplished novelist. Inspired by events in Glaspell’s own life, Fidelity portrays Ruth’s struggle to find fulfillment, love, and purpose in a society that imposes rigid expectations and limitations on how a woman should live. Ruth is a woman torn between love and commitment to her family—and between love and commitment to herself. Glaspell’s narrative shifts between characters, offering glimpses through the community’s eyes of the ways that Ruth’s return forces residents to confront their beliefs and the impact that they have. In the vein of Chopin’s The Awakening and Flaubert’s Madame Bovary, Glaspell’s Fidelity holds an important place in the history of early twentieth-century feminist literature and is long overdue to be back in print.

Students at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, under the guidance of Kevin McMullen, project manager of the Walt Whitman Archive, have resurrected this neglected novel. The text includes contemporary photographs of Susan Glaspell, a new introduction, and annotations throughout, which provide useful commentary for students and general readers alike.

Susan Glaspell (1876–1948), an influential American playwright and novelist, is celebrated as a pioneer of American drama and co-founder of the Provincetown Players. Notable works include the play Trifles and the short story “A Jury of Her Peers,” inspired by her coverage of a real-life murder trial, as well as her Pulitzer Prize-winning play Alison’s House. Her novels include Fidelity, The Morning is Near Us, and Judd Rankin’s Daughter. 

Kevin McMullen is a research associate professor in the English department at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. He is the project manager of both the Walt Whitman Archive and the Charles W. Chesnutt Archive, as well as the co-creator and editor of a digital edition of the newspaper writings of Fanny Fern (http://fannyfern.org).

Associate Editors: Sophie Anderson, Kayla Barnes, Ian Byington, Sam Cobb, Sarah Danielson, Hannah Dannar, Drew Fridrich, Edison Geiler, Rylee Gregg, Marissa Hanley, Bella Hardy, Michael Hodge, Ben Jezewski, Jackson Kissler, Wallace Langdon, Madalyn Meyer, Zoë Olson, Angelina Pattavina, Gabriel Reiman, Grace Reiman, Halle Ross, Audrey Salber, Fatima Salman, McKenna Sender, Presley Shonka, Paige Trutna, and Tyler Wagner 

Contents

Editors' Foreword and Notes on the Text

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Author's Dedication

Fidelity

Bibliography