The Afterlife of Sympathy : Reading American Literary Realism in the Wake of Uncle Tom's Cabin / Faye Halpern.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Halpern, Faye, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Realism in literature.

Sentimentalism in literature.

Genre:

Critiques litteraires.

Literary criticism.

Literary criticism

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Electronic books.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (256 pages)

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Amherst, Massachusetts : University of Massachusetts Press, [2024]

Summary:

"Literary realism rose to prominence in postbellum America with bold and accurate depictions of the world. This style became more popular than sentimentality--an earlier form of writing often associated with women readers and high emotions, seemingly antithetical to realism. Literary scholar Faye Halpern challenges this apparent binary, finding elements of the sentimental in key realist texts. With a distinctively formal and narratological approach, The Afterlife of Sympathy reveals that realist writers such as William Dean Howells, Mark Twain, Henry James, Constance Fenimore Woolson, and Charles Chesnutt used sentimental techniques to evoke sympathy and readerly immersion, even though these techniques countered prevailing conventions of realism. By reassessing the literary realism of this era, Halpern seeks to not only understand why these writers adopted sentimentality's strategies but also provide insight into contemporary arguments about critical distance and sympathetic identification in reading"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Cover

Title Page

Copyright Page

Dedication

Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1: Word Become Flesh: Literacy, Anti-Literacy, and Illiteracy in Uncle Tom's Cabin

Chapter 2: William Dean Howells, Mark Twain, and the Sentimental Red Herring

Chapter 3: The Unmastering of Henry James, or, Searching for Sentimentality in The Bostonians

Chapter 4: Constance Fenimore Woolson's Rhetorical Passing

Chapter 5: Weaponizing Sympathy: Charles Chesnutt's Narrative Experiments

Afterword: A Case against the (Solely) Discerning Reader

Notes

Works Cited

Index

Back Cover.

Notes:

Includes index.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Description based on print version record.

Other Format:

Print version: Halpern, Faye The Afterlife of Sympathy

ISBN:

9781685750558

OCLC:

1412503275