Emma Wolf | |
|---|---|
 Wolf, early 1900s | |
| Born | June 15, 1865 San Francisco, California, United States |
| Died | August 30, 1932 (aged 67) San Francisco, California, United States |
| Resting place | Home of Peace Cemetery, Colma, California |
| Occupation | Author |
| Alma mater | California State Normal School |
| Period | 1892–1916 |
| Notable works | A Prodigal in Love |
| Signature | |
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Emma Wolf (June 15, 1865 – August 29, 1932) was a Jewish-American novelist.
Biography edit
Early life edit
On June 15, 1865, Emma Wolf was born in San Francisco to Simon and Annette Wolf (née Levy), the fourth of eleven children.[1][2] Simon Wolf was born in France in 1822, and joined a large group of Alsatian-Jewish immigrants who settled in Contra Costa County in the 1850s.[2][3] He saw great success in general merchandise during the 1850s and 1860s, with his general stores operating in six different towns across Contra Costa under the banner of Wolf & Company. He moved to San Francisco in the mid-1860s, where he operated a tobacco shop.[3] The Wolf family frequently moved during her childhood to different residences within the Pacific Heights neighborhood. They were members of the Congregation Emanu-El, a Reform congregation in San Francisco. Her father died in September 1878, shortly before the birth of his ninth daughter.[4][5]
From birth, she was heavily impaired in one of her arms. She was also stricken by polio as a child, which would continue to trouble her throughout much of her life. Wolf was childhood friends with Rebekah Bettelheim, with whom she frequently explored the hills of Marin County and collected flower specimens.[4] Wolf attended grammar school and San Francisco Girl's High School. She attended normal school following this, although never ultimately worked as an educator.[4][6]
Literary career edit
Wolf began writing as a child, with an obituary stating that she published her first story at twelve.[7] Although writing multiple short stories in her youth, her first full-length novel was Other Things Being Equal, published by A. C. McClurg in 1892. This was followed two years later by another, A Prodigal in Love. Two more novels, The Joy of Life and Heirs of Yesterday were published in 1896 and 1900.[6] Her bad arm and post-polio symptoms limited her mobility and activities. Rosa Sonneschein of the The American Jewess described her as "[entering] little into society except that of a small beloved circle".[1] She was a member of the Philomath Club, a Jewish women's literary club that emerged during the 1890s woman's club movement.[6] Post-polio symptoms steadily worsened throughout her adult life, and she eventually was unable to participate within the club. She was described in contemporary accounts as observant and reclusive.[7] Her last novel, Fulfillment: A California Novel, was published in 1916.[6]
Her condition eventually confined her to a wheelchair. During this time, from around 1917 until her death, she lived with at the Pacific Heights home of her older sister and caretaker, Celeste Kauffman, alongside their mother. On August 29, 1932, Wolf died at the Dante Sanatorium in San Francisco. Services were held at Emanu-El, and she was buried in her family plot at the Home of Peace Cemetery in Colma.[7]
Themes edit
Jewish identity and its relationship with broader American society is a persistent focus across Wolf's novels. Wolf was one of a very small group of female Jewish novelists who covered American Jewish life during the 1890s.[8]
Reception edit
Wolf's positive outlook towards Jewish-Christian interfaith marriage in Other Things Being Equal prompted some backlash from other currents within the Jewish community. Following a positive review for the novel in a September 1895 issue of The American Jewess, the Gentile obstetrician Friedrich Kolbenheyer published a novella titled Jewish Blood in the magazine, negatively portraying interfaith marriages and arguing that they cause infertility.[9]
Bibliography edit
Novels edit
- Wolf, Emma (1892). Other Things Being Equal. Chicago: A. C. McClurg.
- ——— (1894). A Prodigal in Love. New York: Harper.
- ——— (1896). The Joy of Life. Chicago: A. C. McClurg.
- ——— (1900). Heirs of Yesterday. Chicago: A. C. McClurg.
- ——— (1916). Fulfillment: A California Novel. New York: Henry Holt.
Novellas edit
- ——— (1909). The Knot. New York: Ess Ess.
Short stories and articles edit
- ——— (February 1892). "Brissac's Little Debt". The Wave.
- ——— (July 1895). "Vanity". American Jewess: 183.
- ——— (January 1896). "Eschoscholtzia (California Poppy)". American Jewess: 195.
- ——— (January 1896). "One-Eye, Two-Eye, Three-Eye". American Jewess: 279–290.
- ——— (September 1897). "Social Life in American Cities: San Francisco". The Delineator: 338–339.
- ——— (March 1902). "A Study in Suggestion". Smart Set: 95–100.
- ——— (October 1902). "A Still Small Voice". Smart Set: 157–160.
- ——— (February 1903). "The Courting of Drusilla West". Smart Set: 69–81.
- ——— (December 1904). "The End of the Story". Smart Set: 137–146.
- ——— (July 1905). "Tryst". Smart Set: 101–111.
- ——— (March 1906). "Farquhar's Masterpiece". Smart Set: 1–45.
- ——— (August 1907). "The Conflict". Smart Set: 94–104.
- ——— (1910). "The Critical Miss Devine". The Century: 573–582.
- ——— (June 1911). "The Father of Her Children". Smart Set: 135–140.
References edit
Citations edit
- ^ a b Cantalupo 1994, p. 465.
- ^ a b Mandel 2008, p. 2.
- ^ a b Tornheim 1983, pp. 5–8.
- ^ a b c Mandel 2008, pp. 4–8.
- ^ Kirzane 2020, p. 294.
- ^ a b c d Kirzane 2021.
- ^ a b c Mandel 2008, p. 12.
- ^ Mandel 2008, p. 14.
- ^ Kirzane 2020, pp. 289–290.
Works cited edit
- Kirzane, Jessica (June 23, 2021). "Emma Wolf". Jewish Women's Archive. Retrieved May 18, 2024.
- Kirzane, Jessica (2020). "Women, Love, and the Reform Jewish Mission: Jewish-Christian Marriage in Emma Wolf's Other Things Being Equal and its Literary Successors". American Jewish History. 104 (2). doi:10.1353/ajh.2020.0029.
- Harrison-Kahan, Lori (2017). "'A Grave Experiment' Emma Wolf's Marriage Plots and the Deghettoization of American Jewish Fiction". American Jewish History. 101 (1). JSTOR 26414397.
- Mandel, Dena Toni Cooper (May 2008). A World of Difference: Emma Wolf, a Jewish-American Writer on the American Frontier (PhD thesis). University of Alaska Fairbanks.
- Cantalupo, Barbara (2003). "Emma Wolf's" Heirs of Yesterday" and the Jewish Community in San Francisco in the Late Nineteenth Century". Studies in American Jewish Literature. 22. JSTOR 41205989.
- Cantalupo, Barbara (1994). "Emma Wolf". In Shapiro, Ann (ed.). Jewish American Women Writers: A Bio-Bibliographical and Critical Sourcebook. London: Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 9780313284373.
- Liechtenstein, Diane Marilyn (Nov 22, 1992). Writing Their Nations: The Tradition of Nineteenth-Century American Jewish Women Writers. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. ISBN 9780253333469.
- Tornheim, William (October 1983). "Pioneer Jews of Contra Costa". Western States Jewish History. 16 (1).
Further reading edit
- Cantalupo, Barbara (2004). "Discovering Emma Wolf, San Francisco Author". CCAR Journal. 51 (1).
- Cantalupo, Barbara (2002). "The Letters of Israel Zangwill to Emma Wolf: Transatlantic Mentoring in the 1890s". Resources for American Literary Study. 28 (1).