Emily Hahn
Emily Hahn was an American journalist and author known for her provocative book on seduction.
Journalist
January 14, 1905
January 28, 2020
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Emily Hahn was a trailblazing American writer, journalist, and adventurer, celebrated for her extensive travels and captivating memoirs. Among her most renowned works are “Congo Solo,” “China to Me,” and “Fifty Grand,” which frequently defied societal expectations, particularly regarding women. Hahn broke barriers as the first female staff writer at The New Yorker and earned accolades such as being a National Book Award finalist and receiving a Guggenheim Fellowship.
Hahn’s literary debut came in 1930 with the publication of “Seductio ad Absurdum: The Principles and Practices of Seduction — A Beginner’s Handbook,” a humorous examination of male courtship strategies. Her unconventional life in 1930s Shanghai, which involved a Chinese lover, opium addiction, and a pet gibbon named Mr. Mills, whom she wrote about in her memoir “A Lady’s Life in the Jungle,” shocked society. Hahn continued to write throughout her life, with her last piece published just a year before her passing in 1996. As one of the earliest feminists and an overlooked American literary gem, Emily Hahn’s legacy endures.