Textual contraception : birth control and modern American fiction / Beth Widmaier Capo.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Capo, Beth Widmaier, 1973-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

American fiction--20th century--History and criticism.

American fiction.

Abortion in literature.

Birth control in literature.

Motherhood in literature.

Eugenics in literature.

Race in literature.

Literature and science--United States.

Literature and science.

United States.

Physical Description:

ix, 220 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Columbus : Ohio State University Press, [2007]

Summary:

Between the 1910s and 1940s, American women fought for and won the right to legal birth control. This battle was fought in the courts, in the media, and in the pages of American literature. Textual Contraception: Birth Control and Modern American Fiction examines the relationship between aesthetic production and political activism in the birth control movement. It concludes that, by dramatically bringing to life the rhetorical issues, fiction played a significant role in shaping public consciousness. Concurrently, the potential for female control inherent in contraception influenced literary technique and reception, supporting new narrative possibilities for female characters beyond marriage and motherhood.

Merging cultural analysis and literary scholarship, this compelling work moves from a consideration of how cultural forces shaped literary production and political activism to a close examination of how fictional representations of contraception influenced the terms of public discourse on marriage, motherhood, economics, and eugenics By analyzing popular fiction such as Mother by Kathleen Morris, radical periodicals such as The Masses and Birth Control Review, and literature by authors from Theodore Dreiser to William Faulkner, and Nella Larsen to Mary McCarthy, Beth Widmaier Capo reveals the rich cross-influence of contraceptive and literary history.

Contents:

"Lewd and lascivious" literature

"As red and flaming as possible": radical rhetoric of the 1910s

"For married women only": birth control and modern marriage

"Conscious makers of people": achieving a free motherhood

Reading the body, controlling the race: birth control and the eugenic impetus of the 1920s and 1930s

The economics of desire and despair: birth control and the depression era

Conclusion: textual contraception.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 191-212) and index.

ISBN:

9780814210598

0814210597

9780814291399

0814291392

OCLC:

123391019