"150 Years of Mary Sue"

Kind of a follow-up to the last entry, featuring a lovely comment from Ruby, re George Eliot's elucidation of what might be termed the proto-Mary Sue. This is one of my favorite articles on Mary Sue-ism, featuring Mary Sues from 19th century girls' magazine stories:

http://www.merrycoz.org/papers/MARYSUE.HTM

Once you've read those excerpts, I'm sure you'll agree with me that while the fashions may change, the Sues in their essence stay the same.