The American journalist Nellie Bly, whose real name was Elizabeth Cochrane, worked for Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World and was the first woman to venture undercover investigations, creating a new kind of female sensational journalism. From the mid-1880s, newspapers and magazines were offering women fresh job opportunities to work, although generally confining them to writing for the women’s pages. Bly was an exception among women journalists of that time and her work marked a turning point for career opportunities open to females in the publishing world. Thanks to their enormous popularity, Nellie Bly’s articles opened women’s access to the profession of reporter, until then exclusive male territory. The most famous of Bly’s reporting took place in 1889, when she toured the world sponsored by Pulitzer’s newspaper, inventing a new kind of travel journalism: as a woman she would try to break the record established by Phileas Fogg, the protagonist of Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne. The World intended to create a sensational event—a stunt—that would attract the attention of Americans and, presumably, increase the circulation of the newspaper. During her traveling, the reporter was to send her articles to New York via telegraph; she hoped the public would embrace her adventure and buy more copies of the daily paper. To make her enterprise more striking, Nellie Bly introduced two innovative elements: she traveled alone, without a chaperon; and she traveled without any luggage, except a small bag. This way, she wanted to overcome two prejudices that were quite common in those years. The first was rooted in the belief that traveling alone was dangerous for a woman; thus she risked both her safety and her reputation. The second prejudice held that women were unable to travel without a large number of trunks and bulky bags. On the contrary, Bly was going to take along only one bag and one so small, she was obliged to always wear the same traveling gown. This essay is a reflection on that bag.
Traveling Light: Nellie Bly’s All-Inclusive Bag
SCATAMACCHIA, Cristina
2012
Abstract
The American journalist Nellie Bly, whose real name was Elizabeth Cochrane, worked for Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World and was the first woman to venture undercover investigations, creating a new kind of female sensational journalism. From the mid-1880s, newspapers and magazines were offering women fresh job opportunities to work, although generally confining them to writing for the women’s pages. Bly was an exception among women journalists of that time and her work marked a turning point for career opportunities open to females in the publishing world. Thanks to their enormous popularity, Nellie Bly’s articles opened women’s access to the profession of reporter, until then exclusive male territory. The most famous of Bly’s reporting took place in 1889, when she toured the world sponsored by Pulitzer’s newspaper, inventing a new kind of travel journalism: as a woman she would try to break the record established by Phileas Fogg, the protagonist of Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne. The World intended to create a sensational event—a stunt—that would attract the attention of Americans and, presumably, increase the circulation of the newspaper. During her traveling, the reporter was to send her articles to New York via telegraph; she hoped the public would embrace her adventure and buy more copies of the daily paper. To make her enterprise more striking, Nellie Bly introduced two innovative elements: she traveled alone, without a chaperon; and she traveled without any luggage, except a small bag. This way, she wanted to overcome two prejudices that were quite common in those years. The first was rooted in the belief that traveling alone was dangerous for a woman; thus she risked both her safety and her reputation. The second prejudice held that women were unable to travel without a large number of trunks and bulky bags. On the contrary, Bly was going to take along only one bag and one so small, she was obliged to always wear the same traveling gown. This essay is a reflection on that bag.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
