Unruly tongue : identity and voice in American women's writing, 1850-1930 / Martha J. Cutter. [electronic resource]

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Cutter, Martha J.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

American fiction--Women authors--History and criticism.

American fiction.

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

Feminism and literature.

Feminism and literature--United States--History--20th century.

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

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

Domestic fiction, American--History and criticism.

Domestic fiction, American.

Women and literature--United States.

Women and literature.

Women--United States--Language.

Women.

Group identity in literature.

Ethnic groups in literature.

Authorship--Sex differences.

Authorship.

Feminist fiction, American--History and criticism.

Feminist fiction, American.

Authorship--Sex differences--History--19th century.

Authorship--Sex differences--History--20th century.

American fiction--History and criticism--Women authors--19th century--United States.

Women and literature--Language.

American fiction--History and criticism--20th Century--United States.

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

Authorship--Sex differences--History.

Genre:

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

History.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xix, 228 p. ) ill. ;

Place of Publication:

Jackson : University Press of Mississippi, c1999.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

"Women should be seen and not heard" was a well-known maxim in the nineteenth century. In a society perceiving that language was for the province of male, white speakers, how did women writers find a voice? In Unruly Tongue Martha J. Cutter answers this question with works by ten African American and Anglo American women who wrote between 1850 and 1930. She shows that female writers in this period perceived how male-centered and racist ideas on language had silenced them. By adopting voices that are maternal, feminine, and ethnic, they broke the link between masculinity and voice and created new forms of language that empowered them and their female characters.

Contents:

The problem of voice in American culture, 1850-1930

American women's fiction, 1850-1880 : domestic discourses in the writings of Fanny Fern, Louisa May Alcott, and Harriet Wilson

From the law of the father to the law of the feminine : Mary Wilkins Freeman's and Anna Julia Cooper's revisionary voices

The search for a feminine voice in the works of Kate Chopin

Herstory in hisland, history in herland : Charlotte Perkins Gilman's reconstruction of gender and language

The politics of hybridity in Frances Harper's Iola Leroy

Jessie Faucet's and Willa Cather's metalinguistic, ethnic discourses

Coda : beyond the binary?

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

ISBN:

0-585-03308-0