In Seven Stages

Inspired by Jules Verne's Around the World in Eighty Days, Nellie Bly embarked on a 24,899-mile journey. Not to be outdone by crosstown rival the New York World, Cosmopolitan sent one of its young reporters to race Bly across the globe. In Seven Stages: A Flying Trap Around the World is a travel memoir by Elizabeth Bisland.

Auteur

Elizabeth Bisland (1861-1929) was an American journalist, editor, and travel writer. Born in Louisiana, Bisland fled her homestead with her family during the Civil War, later settling in Natchez. As a teenager, she began publishing poems in the New Orleans Times Democrat, which would soon offer her a job. In 1887, Bisland moved to New York City, where she found work with The Sun and The New York World, eventually taking a position as an editor with then-fledgling magazine Cosmopolitan. Her break came in 1889, when she was sent on assignment to compete with Nellie Bly-who worked for the New York World¬-on her journey around the globe. Although both women departed from Manhattan on the same day, and despite the press generated by their competition, Bly remains more widely recognized for her role in the stunt. Upon returning, Bisland published her account of the adventure as In Seven Stages: A Flying Trap Around the World (1891).

Texte du rabat

In Seven Stages: A Flying Trap Around the World (1891) is a travel narrative by American journalist Elizabeth Bisland. When Bly's journey-inspired by the travels of Phileas Fogg in Jules Verne's Around the World in Eighty Days (1873)-was announced in Joseph Pulitzer's popular newspaper the New York World, Cosmopolitan sent a young reporter of its own to race Bly across the globe. At the time, readers at home were encouraged to estimate the hour and day of Bisland's arrival, generating national interest and launching a series of copycat adventures by ambitious voyagers over the next few decades. "My appetite for mystery at that hour of the day is always lamentably feeble, and it was nearly eleven before I found time to go and investigate this one, although the office in question was only a few minutes' walk from my residence. On arriving, the editor and owner of the magazine asked if I would leave New York that evening for San Francisco and continue from there around the world, endeavoring to complete the journey in some absurdly inadequate space of time." Summoned from her life of work and leisure to undertake a several month journey around the world, Elizabeth Bisland rose to the occasion with courage and wit. Although Nellie Bly made it home five days before her-perhaps due to some subterfuge on the part of her publisher-Bisland took defeat in stride, writing an account filled with wonderful descriptions of her voyage. Ironic and self-effacing, Bisland's account, although less popular than Bly's, remains an essential work from the early days of tabloid entertainment and investigative journalism, a time when publishers were willing enough-or wild enough-to send correspondents on a globetrotting voyage in search of fame. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Elizabeth Bisland's In Seven Stages: A Flying Trap Around the World is a classic work of American travel literature reimagined for modern readers.