So Big

Edna Ferber was born on August 15, 1885, in Kalamazoo, Michigan, to Jewish immigrant parents. Her father, Jacob Charles Ferber, was a Hungarian-born storekeeper and her mother, Julia Neumann Ferber, came from Milwaukee. The family faced financial instability due to her father’s failing business ventures and vision issues, leading them to relocate frequently during Edna’s childhood. Ferber graduated from high school in Appleton, Wisconsin, and pursued journalism, initially working as a reporter for the Appleton Daily Crescent and later the Milwaukee Journal. By her mid-twenties, Ferber shifted to fiction writing, and her first novel, Dawn O’Hara (1911), gained modest success. Ferber’s breakthrough came with Fanny Herself (1917), a semi-autobiographical novel exploring the struggles of a young Jewish woman balancing ambition and familial duty. Ferber became a prolific writer, producing novels, short stories, and plays over several decades. Her works often centered on strong, complex female protagonists, social mobility, and the American Dream.

As well as So Big, Ferber’s novels include Show Boat (1926), Cimarron (1930), and Giant (1952). Ferber’s work is often categorized as Realist fiction. Realism in literature aims to depict life as it is, emphasizing everyday experiences, ordinary characters, and plausible events. Edna Ferber’s novels can be considered prime examples of Realist fiction, as they encapsulate the struggles, triumphs, and complexities of American life across different regions and eras.