Autobiography of a Pocket-Handkerchief
Autobiography of a Pocket Handkerchief is a serial novel by James Fennimore Cooper first published by Graham's Magazine in 1843.[1] The novel explores the upper crust of New York Society from the perspective of a woman's handkerchief.[2]
After the initial publication in Graham's Magazine the novel was published by several other magazines, including Brother Jonathan.[1] The novel was published in whole in 1843 by Cooper's London publisher Richard Bentley under a separate title, The French Governess; or, The Embroidered Handkerchief.[1] In 1845 a German publisher also published the work in full.[1]
Themes
Critic Thomas Bender describes the whole novel as devoted to "to the subject of the evils of selfishly attempting to achieve higher place".[3] The city of New York, in this context, represent the evils of "struggle for social status" and this becomes the model for the woes and disorder caused by this struggle.[3]
