Torrid zones : maternity, sexuality, and empire in eighteenth-century English narratives / Felicity A. Nussbaum.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Nussbaum, Felicity.

Series:

Parallax (Baltimore, Md.)

Parallax : re-visions of culture and society

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

English prose literature--18th century--History and criticism.

English prose literature.

Women and literature--Colonies--Great Britain--History--18th century.

Women and literature.

Colonies.

Great Britain.

History.

Women and literature--England--History--18th century.

England.

Imperialism in literature.

Motherhood in literature.

Narration (Rhetoric).

Sex in literature.

Physical Description:

x, 264 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

Baltimore, MD : Johns Hopkins University Press, 1995.

Summary:

Among the first books to consider issues of empire in relation to literary texts of the eighteenth century, Torrid Zones offers a compelling revision of the history of feminism in a postcolonial context. Felicity Nussbaum argues that the need to control women's sexuality in eighteenth-century England intensified as the demands of trade and colonization required an ever-larger, able-bodied population. Describing how women's reproductive labor was harnessed to that task, Nussbaum explores issues such as the production of life, of goods, and of desire. She also considers a variety of cultural practices (usually construed as exotic) in England and the empire, including polygamy, infanticide, prostitution, homoeroticism, and arranged marriages. Torrid Zones includes new readings of significant texts by and about female subjects, including novels by Defoe, Richardson, Johnson, Cleland, Lennox, Sarah Scott, Frances Sheridan, and Phebe Gibbes. It also considers the more broadly defined texts of culture such as travel narratives, medical documents, legal records, and engravings.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0801850746

0801850754

OCLC:

32167478