In Seven Stages: A Flying Trap Around the World

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 natio...