The Middle Class In The Great Depression: Popular Women's Novels Of The 1930s (american Literature Readings In The 21st Century)

In contrast to most studies of literature from the Great Depression which focus on representations of poverty, labor, and radicalism, this project analyzes popular representations of middle class life. Examining popular women's novels of the 1930s, this study explores how middlebrow literature imagined gender and class identity during one of the most economically devastating times in U.S. history. These forgotten writers - Edna Ferber, Fannie Hurst, Margaret Ayer Barnes, Jessie Redmon Fauset, Mary Roberts Rinehart, Katharine Brush, and others - portrayed women's lives and a great variety of issues that affected them, including marriage, motherhood, professionalism, violence, and racism. Through adept close readings, Jennifer Haytock demonstrates that Depression-era realist fiction portrays a range of changes in daily life and draws new conclusion about the American Dream Front Matter....Pages i-ix Introduction Popular Women’s Literature, Class, and the Great Depression....Pages 1-14 History, Normalcy, and Daily Life: Margaret Ayer Barnes and Jessie Redmon Fauset....Pages 15-46 Women Exploring Class: Fannie Hurst, Edna Ferber, and Katharine Brush....Pages 47-79 Family Life in Depressed America: Josephine Johnson and Josephine Lawrence....Pages 81-113 Single Women, Violence, and Class: Mary Roberts Rinehart....Pages 115-148 Professional Women, Work, and Romance: Gale Wilhelm, Fannie Cook, and Dawn Powell....Pages 149-179 Conclusion....Pages 181-184 Back Matter....Pages 185-205