Around the World with Nellie Bly

Nellie Bly was a groundbreaking newspaper reporter of the 1880's who set out on an around-the-world expedition at a time when women (and most men) simply didn't do such a thing. Who better to write her biography than Emily Hahn, a groundbreaking writer and world traveler of the 1930's and 1940's. The book is aimed at younger readers, but at age 65 I enjoyed every page.

Though published in 1959, the writing is not dated and the events of Nellie Bly's life seem just as remarkable to a modern reader, young or old. First she had to break into the all-male occupation of newspaper reporter. Then she made sensational exposés of political corruption, of cruel labor conditions, and of horrible treatment in an insane asylum. Then she proposed show more something that caught the public fancy: a trip around the world, by herself. It seemed audacious in 1889 for anybody to attempt to circle the globe in fewer than 80 days, and more audacious for that person to be a woman — and, moreover, to travel alone.

The authorship of Emily Hahn added an extra dimension to my enjoyment. It helps to know that Ms. Hahn traveled, alone and female, to the Belgian Congo in the 1930's where she witnessed wretched treatment of non-whites, and then to China in the 1940's where she became the lover of a Chinese poet and a friend of some of the most powerful women in China.

In telling the story of Nellie Bly, Ms. Hahn interprets events with a somewhat opinionated voice that to modern ears sounds distinctly, pleasingly feminist — though she was writing in 1959. Her tone is strained at one point, when she reports Nellie Bly's description of the Chinese as the filthiest people on earth, always grumpy and morose, the most awkward, possessing all the vices in the world, and "the most disagreeable" of people. You can almost see Emily Hahn holding herself in check as she says: "If this sounds sweeping and ill-considered, on the basis of five days here and three days there — well, Nellie Bly was sweeping and ill-considered, often. Of such haste was journalism made. It was part of her style."

One further point: where you or I might say “Journalism is a hasty business,” Emily Hahn says “Of such haste was journalism made.” Her prose is strong and precise, a pleasure to read. She respects — and demands — the intelligence of her young audience.

In Singapore Nellie Bly adopts a monkey: a macaque. As it happens, while in China Emily Hahn had adopted several gibbons, on whom she doted. Once again Ms. Hahn clips her voice as she says: "Women everywhere wore Nellie Bly caps. The only part of her costume that was not copied was the Singapore monkey. After a disastrous few days of coping with him in a city apartment, Nellie gave him to the zoo."

Oddly, the actual details of the around-the-world journey of Nellie Bly seem rather tame in retrospect, consisting mostly of long passages on ocean liners. There's one close call on a railroad trestle. There are inconveniences and exotic locales. The fascination comes in observing Nellie's overwhelming spirit — and the men she encounters, men who seem insufferably piggish by the standards of today.

Nellie Bly and Emily Hahn are kindred spirits, and their combination makes for a lovely little book. show less