MARGARET FULLER: Whetstone of Genius

A much broader canvas is used to delineate this peculiarly remarkable life of Margaret Fuller than in Katherine Anthony's biography. Mr. Wade skillfully recreates the New York of Horace Greela, the New England of the Transcendentalists, the revolutionary Italy of Garibaldi, as background for one of the unique products of New England culture, a complex, neurotic and somewhat repellent figure. When little more than a child, she was educated as if she were a Harvard student. Through life she capitalized her intellect, and only towards the close, after she had played an important role as the first feminist, with Greeley on the Tribune, did she allow her feminine nature to reach completion. This came through her Italian marriage -- and the tragedy that ended it. As a person she was difficult and warped; as a personality she was an intellectual pioneer. A full-blooded piece of characterization, with full emphasis on the psychological.