Portraits of Women

Gamaliel Bradford's "Portraits of Women" is a collection of biographical essays examining the characters and inner lives of various historical and literary female figures. Using a method he termed "psychography," Bradford focuses on analyzing the "souls" and psychological makeup of his subjects rather than merely recounting their actions. Portraits include figures such as Madame de Sévigné, Madame du Deffand, Eugénie de Guérin, and Margaret Fuller. The author delves into their intellects, emotional complexities, beliefs, and societal relationships. For instance, in the Eugénie de Guérin portrait, he analyzes her "morbid" and "abnormal" strain, focusing on "graves and death," contrasting this with Horace Greeley's "brutal Philistinism" comment on Margaret Fuller: that "A good husband and two or three bouncing babies would have emancipated her from a good deal of cant and nonsense." The work reveals the complex inner lives of these "exquisite souls" beyond the confines of being a "normal wife and mother."