Sentimental readers : the rise, fall, and revival of a disparaged rhetoric / Faye Halpern.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Halpern, Faye.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Literature.

Sentimentalism in literature.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (240 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Iowa City : University of Iowa Press, [2013]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

How could novels like Uncle Tom's Cabin change the hearts and minds of thousands of mid-nineteenth-century readers, yet make so many modern readers cringe at their over-the-top, tear-filled scenes? Sentimental Readers explains why sentimental rhetoric was so compelling to readers of that earlier era, why its popularity waned in the latter part of the nineteenth century, and why today it is generally characterized as overly emotional and artificial. But author Faye Halpern also does more: she demonstrates that this now despised rhetoric remains relevant to contemporary writing teachers and lite

Contents:

Introduction: The how of sentimentality

Edward Tyrrel channing and the matter of disingenuous eloquence

Why we should trust Harriet Beecher Stowe

The art of appearances in Louisa May Alcott

Henry Ward Beecher and the fall of the sentimental orator

In defense of reading badly

A critical problem with being a good reader of sentimental rhetoric.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (ebrary, viewed November 26, 2013).

ISBN:

9781609382100

1609382102

OCLC:

862077703