Bodies of reform : the rhetoric of character in Gilded Age America / James B. Salazar.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Salazar, James B.

Series:

America and the long 19th century.

America and the long 19th century

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

American fiction--19th century--History and criticism.

American fiction.

Character in literature.

Characters and characteristics in literature.

National characteristics, American, in literature.

Character--Political aspects--United States--History--19th century.

Character.

Rhetoric--Political aspects--United States--History--19th century.

Rhetoric.

Political culture--United States--History--19th century.

Political culture.

Politics and literature--United States--History--19th century.

Politics and literature.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (312 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New York : New York University Press, c2010.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

From the patricians of the early republic to post-Reconstruction racial scientists, from fin de siècle progressivist social reformers to post-war sociologists, character, that curiously formable yet equally formidable “stuff,” has had a long and checkered history giving shape to the American national identity.Bodies of Reform reconceives this pivotal category of nineteenth-century literature and culture by charting the development of the concept of “character” in the fictional genres, social reform movements, and political cultures of the United States from the mid-nineteenth to the early-twentieth century. By reading novelists such as Herman Melville, Mark Twain, Pauline Hopkins, and Charlotte Perkins Gilman alongside a diverse collection of texts concerned with the mission of building character, including child-rearing guides, muscle-building magazines, libel and naturalization law, Scout handbooks, and success manuals, James B. Salazar uncovers how the cultural practices of representing character operated in tandem with the character-building strategies of social reformers. His innovative reading of this archive offers a radical revision of this defining category in U.S. literature and culture, arguing that character was the keystone of a cultural politics of embodiment, a politics that played a critical role in determining-and contesting-the social mobility, political authority, and cultural meaning of the raced and gendered body.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

1. Philanthropic Taste

2. Character Is Capital

3. Muscle Memory

4. “A Story Written on Her Face”

5. Character’s Conduct

Notes

Index

About the Author

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780814786536

0814786537

9780814741320

0814741320

OCLC:

779828353