As a woman thinks

Metadata

Gutenberg ID

78847

Title

As a woman thinks

Language

en

Book source

Project Gutenberg

Description max 80 words

In "As a Woman Thinks," Corra Harris offers a candid, first-person biography of her own mind rather than a traditional life story. Rejecting mysticism and religious sentimentality, she chronicles her journey from a child in Georgia to a writer navigating war, widowhood, and societal change. With wit and unflinching honesty, Harris explores the power of thought, the nature of happiness, and the struggle to live authentically against the currents of convention and expectation.

Summary up to 500 words

Corra Harris begins by defining her project: not a mystical tale or a grand intellectual biography, but a record of a "sensible" mind shaped by actual experience. She argues that while the heart keeps memories and emotions, the mind is where we keep the law, break it, and determine our relations to others and God. Rejecting the idea of an "oversoul" or spiritual vestments, she presents her consciousness as a private consciousness too intimate for public exploitation, yet one she feels compelled to record. The narrative traces her life through various chapters. As a child in Georgia, she observes the world through a lens of simple sentimentality. Her education and early adulthood involve a tension between religious upbringing and her own developing intellect. She describes her husband, Lundy, as her "altar and church," and his death forces a radical reorientation. She refuses the expected role of a weeping widow, stripping away religious sentimentality to assume a sensible relation to God and her own agency. She becomes a "dangerous person" in her grief, refusing to forgive those who wronged her husband until she feels ready, eventually finding a path to forgiveness on her own terms. Harris then details her travels to Europe, where she encounters famous women like Rosa Goldberg and Emma Goldman, observing how the definition of female greatness has shifted. She survives severe illness, defying doctors' predictions, and returns home to continue her work. Throughout, she critiques the "mortal mind" which builds civilizations only to destroy them, and the human tendency to fear death and doubt immortality. She suggests that nature knows a joy and peace we lack, and that our anxieties about the afterlife are often foolish. In her later reflections, Harris admits to a fundamental misunderstanding of Scripture. She confesses that her lifelong practice of bearing others' burdens without expecting reciprocity led to a "damnable selfishness" and the creation of "whimpering parasites." She resolves to stop gratifying a sentimental conscience and instead seek happiness, interpreting the Scriptures through her own good senses. She concludes that we must cast off weights to find a "fair weather of happier days," seeking a state of mind where she can sit down and not be responsible for anything or anybody. The book ends with a desire to arrive before God in a high mood, clothed in the bright garments of human happiness rather than the white robes of mere redemption.

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4.2/5

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