Negotiating Motherhood In Nineteenth-century American Literature (studies In American Popular History And Culture)

Returning to a foundational moment in the history of the American family, __Negotiating Motherhood in Nineteenth-Century American Literature__ explores how various authors of the period represented the maternal role – an office that came to a new, social prominence at the end of the eighteenth century. By examining maternal figures in the works of diverse authors such as Harriet Beecher Stowe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Jacobs, and Sarah Piatt, this book exposes the contentious but fruitful negotiations that took place in the heart of the American sentimental era – negotiations about the cultural meanings of family, womanhood, and motherhood. This book, then, challenges critical constructions that figure American sentimentalism as a coherent, monolithic project, tied strictly to the forces of cultural conservatism. Furthermore, by exploring nineteenth-century challenges to conventional maternal ideology and by exposing gaps in the mythology of ''ideal'' motherhood, __Negotiating Motherhood__ demonstrates that the icon of an American Madonna – a figure that still haunts America’s imagination – never had an uncontested reign. Transcending the boundaries of literary criticism, this work will be useful to feminist scholars and to those who are interested in the history of women’s culture, the American mythology of family life, or the cultural construction of motherhood. Stronger Than All Was Maternal Love: Maternal Idealism In Uncle Tom's Cabin -- No More The Pillow Of Affection: Deconstructing The Softening Influence Of Motherhood In The Scarlet Letter -- Links... Of Gold: The Bonds Of Motherhood In Incidents In The Life Of A Slave Girl -- She Has Been Burning Palaces: The Maternal Poetics Of Sarah Piatt. Mary Mccartin Wearn. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 149-157) And Index. By examining maternal figures in the works of diverse authors such as Harriet Beecher Stowe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Jacobs and Sarah Piatt, this book explores the contentious but fruitful negotiations that took place inthe heart of the American sentimental era