Definition
Susan Frances Harrison (1859–1935) was a versatile writer and musician. As a woman creating poetry, prose, and musical composition in Canada, she was an innovator. Similar to the practice followed by many Victorian women, she used a number of pseudonyms. At the age of 16, she had her first publication under the name Medusa. Subsequently she used pseudonyms such as Gilbert King and The Rambler, but her favorite pen name was Seranus. It resulted from a misreading of her signature, S. Frances. After attending a private school in Toronto, she lived in Montreal from 1875 to 1879. During that period she became enthralled with the French-Canadian culture and subsequently frequently drew upon her understanding of it in her writing. She railed against the difficulties of finding publishers for her work. As a result she relied on her abilities as a musician and music teacher to finance the publication of several of her books. Although during the latter nineteenth century she was...
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Keillor, E. (2022). Harrison, Susan Frances. In: Scholl, L., Morris, E. (eds) The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Victorian Women’s Writing. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-78318-1_352
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