Description
Book SynopsisIn a sweeping reassessment of early American literature, The Gender of Freedom explores the workings of the literary public sphere-from its colonial emergence through the antebellum flourishing of sentimentalism-and places representations of and by women at the center rather than the margin of the public sphere and the politics of liberalism.
Trade Review"Through an impressive synthesis of critical material from a wide range of disciplines and some astute readings of political theorists from Adam Smith to Jürgen Habermas, Elizabeth Maddock Dillon has produced an intriguing and largely persuasive account of the relationship between liberalism and gender difference." --
William and Mary Quarterly"In this highly intelligent and elegantly written book, Elizabeth Maddock Dillon makes the important observation that U.S. liberalism depends upon the concept of gender for its successful functioning and, more particularly, that women's private status has been integral to liberalism since its inception." --
LegacyTable of ContentsContents Introduction: The Gender of Freedom and Women in Public 1 Chapter One. Gender, Liberal Theory, and the Literary Public Sphere 00 Chapter Two. Puritan Bodies and Transatlantic Texts 00 Chapter Three. Contracting Marriage in the New Republic 000 Chapter Four. Sociality and Sentiment 000 Coda. Queering Marriage: Emily Dickinson and the Poetics of Title 000 Notes Works Cited 000 Index Library of Congress Subject Headings for this publication: American literature Colonial period, ca, 1600-1775 History and criticism, Liberty in literature, Dickinson, Emily, 1830-1886 Criticism and interpretation, American literature 1783-1850 History and criticism, Politics and literature United States History, Women and literature United States History, Sentimentalism in literature, Liberalism in literature, Sex role in literature, Marriage in literature, Women in literature
