The Maimie Papers Lettes Form an Ex-Prostitute

Pinzer, Maimie

ISBN 10: 1558611436 / ISBN 13: 9781558611436

Published by Feminist Press, City University Of New York, 1996

About this Item

Fine paperback copy. Particularly and surprisingly well-preserved; tight, bright, clean and especially sharp-cornered. ; 463 pages; Description: li, 463 p. ; 23 cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. Letters written 1910-1922 chiefly to Fanny Quincy Howe. Subjects: Pinzer, Maimie, 1885-1940. Howe, Fanny Quincy, 1870-1933. Prostitutes --Pennsylvania --Philadelphia --Correspondence. United States --Moral conditions --Sources 1 Kg. Seller Inventory # 21631

Bibliographic Details

Title: The Maimie Papers Lettes Form an ...

Publisher: Feminist Press, City University Of New York

Publication Date: 1996

Binding: Soft cover

Edition: First Edition.

About this title

Synopsis:

In 1910, a remarkable correspondence began between a wealthy and distinguished Bostonian philanthropist, Fanny Quincy Howe, and Maimie Pinzer, a Jewish prostitute living in Philadelphia and recovering from a morphine addiction developed after the loss of an eye. The Maimie Papers is Maimie’s side of that correspondence, offering an unprecedented and still unique account of the life of a woman of the streets and her inspiring transformation.

An afterword by Ruth Rosen traces the elusive trail of Mamie’s life following the end of her correspondence, from an elegant apartment in Chicago to a new life in the glamorous Southern California of the late 1920s. The Mamie Papers introduces an unforgettable woman with a powerful writer’s voice, of whom the New York Times Book Review says, Mamie writes like a dream. . . . An astonishing book.”

Review:

This enchanting collection of brave letters charts a correspondence of more than 12 years between two 19th-century women. Maimie Pinzer was a former prostitute/nude model/actress who wanted to be a lady; Fanny Howe was a Bostonian lady with an understanding of tragedy. The match was unlikely from both sides, but Fanny offered moral support and a definition of what it was to be a "Gentle American," while Maimie contributed her honesty and a clearer view of "the human condition" that Fanny would otherwise not know. The letters intimately detail what life was like for a lower class working woman--and how one woman struggled to make something more of that life.