‘I am your friend,’ replied Miss Grief. Then, after a moment, she added slowly, ‘I have read every word you have ever written'” (Woolson 318).

This excerpt from Constance Fenimore Woolson’s story “Miss Grief” highlights the intersection for women of literacy and intimacy that Gere explores in the first chapter of her book Intimate Practices: Literacy and Cultural Work in U.S. Women’s Clubs, 1880-1920. Miss Grief, or Crief, feels close to the male narrator of the story because she has read all of his work—she feels close enough to him through his writing alone to reveal all of her own writings to him in return. By taking a chance on a potential relationship based solely on literacy, she makes herself very vulnerable to him, since the disparity of their powers both in the literary world and in society at large is vast. He says himself that her writing abilities are not what he would expect from a woman, and throughout the piece he constantly calls attention to her gender and how odd it is for him to acknowledge her literary superiority. When he does recognize her talents, he begins to reciprocate (somewhat) the feelings of admiration she feels toward him. Of course, this relationship is different from those of club women since it is between a powerful man and a destitute woman, but this story still highlights the way that a woman’s shared literacy can create unique and intimate relationships. These characters would never have associated with one another were it not for this link of literacy, and if this pretentious, chauvinistic man can bear to read Miss Grief’s work, we can only imagine how prosperous a relationship she could have had with a fellow woman writer.

Works Cited

Gere, Anne Ruggles. “Literacy and Intimacy.” Intimate Practices. University of Illinois, 1997, pp. 17-53.

Woolson, Constance Fenimore. “Miss Grief.” Wielding the Pen, edited by Anne E. Boyd. Johns Hopkins University, 2009, pp. 315-332.