The Voice of Harriet Taylor Mill

<strong>The Voice of Harriet Taylor Mill</strong> is a work about collaboration Harriets lifewith her lover friends and members of her family Harriets joint wor... » 

The Voice of Harriet Taylor Mill is a work about collaboration Harriets lifewith her lover friends and members of her family Harriets joint work withJohn Stuart Mill and the authors interaction with the reader. Jo Ellen Jacobsexplores and expands the concept of biography using Salman Rushdies analogy ofhistory as a process of chutnification. She gives Harriets life shape andform that is to say meaning in a way that will possess the authentictaste of truth.In the first chapter the first 30 years of Harriets life are presented in theformat of a firstperson diary one not actually written by HTM herself. Thetext is based on letters and historical context but the style suggests theintimate experience of reading someones journal. The second chapter continuesthe chronological account of HTM until her death in 1858. In an interludebetween the first and second chapters Jacobs pauses to explore Harriets lifewith John Stuart Mill and in the final chapter she argues persuasively thatHarriet and John collaborated extensively on many works including On Liberty. «