Fleischner, Jennifer 1956–

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Fleischner, Jennifer 1956–

PERSONAL: Born January 16, 1956, in New York, NY; daughter of Irwin (a high school principal) and Ruth Mintz Goodman Holman (codirector of a children's summer camp) Fleischner. Education: Williams College, B.A. (cum laude), 1977; Columbia University, M.A. (with highest honors), 1980, M.Phil. (with distinction), 1983, Ph.D., 1988; attended Training Institute of the National Psychological Association for Psychoanalysis, 1990–92; Columbia University, Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research, postdoctoral study, 1992–94. Hobbies and other interests: Her cats Psyche and Lizzie.

ADDRESSES: Office—Department of English, Adelphi University, P.O. Box 701, Garden City, NY 11530-0701. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Writer and professor. Dover Publications, Inc., New York, NY, publicity director, 1977–78; State University of New York at Albany, Albany, NY, lecturer, 1986–88, assistant professor, 1988–96, associate professor of English, 1996–, director of undergraduate studies, 1996–2000, director of honors program, 1997–99, affiliated faculty member in women's studies, 1988–2000, Diversity Lecturer, 1995; Adelphi University, Garden City, NY, English department chair, 2002–, professor of English, 2002–. College of Mount St. Vincent, Riverdale, NY, visiting assistant professor, 1989–90; Hartwick College, Oneonta, NY, Babcock Lecturer, 1992; Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, Andrew W. Mellon Faculty Fellow in Afro-American studies, 1993–94; Columbia University, New York, NY, visiting scholar in English, 1994–95. Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc., New York, NY, managing editor of "Reading Theme Book Series," 1993.

MEMBER: Manhattan Reading Club (founder; director of book groups, 1992–93).

AWARDS, HONORS: President's fellowships, Columbia University, 1980–82; honorary president's fellowship, Columbia University, 1984–85; Lane Cooper Dissertation Fellowship, Columbia University, 1985–86; faculty research awards, State University of New York at Albany, 1987, 1990, 1992, 1996, and 2000; Andrew W. Mellon Faculty Fellowship, Harvard University, 1993–94; Nuala McGann Drescher Award, United University Professors, 1994–95.

WRITINGS:

NONFICTION FOR YOUNG READERS

(Contributing editor) The American Experience, Prentice-Hall (Englewood Cliffs, NJ), 1990.

The Apache Nation, Millbrook Press (Brookfield, CT), 1994.

(Contributing editor) Scholastic Encyclopedia of American Presidents, Agincourt (New York, NY), 1994.

The Inuits: People of the Arctic, Millbrook Press (Brookfield, CT), 1995.

The Dred Scott Case: Testing the Right to Live Free, Millbrook Press (Brookfield, CT), 1996.

"I Was Born a Slave": The Life of Harriet Jacobs as Told in Her Own Words, Millbrook Press (Brookfield, CT), 1997.

NONFICTION FOR ADULTS

(Editor, with Susan Ostrov Weisser, and contributor) Feminist Nightmares: Women at Odds, Feminism and the Problem of Sisterhood, New York University Press (New York, NY), 1994.

Book Group Guide to the Work of Barbara Kingsolver, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1994.

Book Group Guide to the Work of Louise Erdrich, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1995.

Book Group Guide to the Work of Doris Lessing, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1995.

Mastering Slavery: Memory, Family, and Identity in Women's Slave Narratives, New York University Press (New York, NY), 1996.

Mrs. Lincoln and Mrs. Keckley: The Remarkable Story of the Friendship between a First Lady and a Former Slave, Broadway Books (New York, NY), 2003.

Contributor to books, including Recasting Intellectual History: African American Cultural Studies, edited by Walter Jackson, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 1996. Contributor of articles and reviews to magazines, including American Imago, American Literature, Journal of the History of Sexuality, Studies in the Novel, Nineteenth-Century Literature, and Scottish Literary Journal.

SIDELIGHTS: A professor, Jennifer Fleischner has written a number of books for both children and adults on topics in American history. For example, Mrs. Lincoln and Mrs. Keckley: The True Story of the Remarkable Friendship Between a First Lady and a Former Slave is both a biography of each woman and an analysis of their sometimes complicated relationship. Elizabeth Keckley, a native of Virginia, was born into slavery and was an accomplished seamstress. After becoming free in the mid-1850s, she relocated to Washington, DC, and became close to Mary Todd Lincoln. Mary was the wife of President Abraham Lincoln and was raised in a family that owned slaves. In addition to providing fashion advice for the first lady, Elizabeth also was a trusted confidante and ally for many years. Lynn Domina, writing in Legacy: A Journal of American Women Writers, commented: "Mrs. Lincoln and Mrs. Keckley is pleasurable to read, not only for its content but also because Fleischner writes with an eloquent and fluid style."

Fleischner once commented to CA: "As a child I was a passionate reader. I loved books, and some of my fondest memories are of sitting somewhere private and alone, reading a book. There were four children in my family, and it seemed like you could never be alone. Reading a book was like having a secret life that no one could touch. Now when I think about being a writer, I can hardly believe it. It's what I always wanted to do."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Black Issues Book Review, July-August, 2003, Angela P. Dodson, review of Mrs. Lincoln and Mrs. Keckley: The True Story of the Remarkable Friendship between a First Lady and a Former Slave, p. 59.

Booklist, March 1, 2003, Margaret Flanagan, review of Mrs. Lincoln and Mrs. Keckley, p. 1139.

Legacy: A Journal of American Women Writers, January, 2005, Lynn Domina, review of Mrs. Lincoln and Mrs. Keckley, p. 80.

Library Journal, February 13, 2003, Randall M. Miller, review of Mrs. Lincoln and Mrs. Keckley, p. 149.