Sibling Romance in American Fiction, 1835-1900

by E. VanDette

Overview

This study posits that the narrative of sibling love as a culturally significant tradition in nineteenth-century American fiction. Ultimately, Emily E. VanDette suggests that these novels contribute to historical conversations about affiliation in such tumultuous contexts as sectional divisions, slavery debates, the Civil War, and Reconstruction.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781349449583
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan US
Publication date:	02/06/2013
Edition description:	1st ed. 2013
Pages:	204
Product dimensions:	5.51(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

Emily E. VanDette is an assistant professor of English at SUNY Fredonia.

Table of Contents

1. Sibling Pedagogy: The Brother-Sister Ideal in Domestic Advice and Children's Periodical Literature 2. Remembering Resistance and Resilience: The Revolutionary Sibling Romances of Sedgwick, Simms, and Kennedy 3. 'She carried the romance of sisterly affection too far': Sibling Love in Caroline Lee Hentz's Ernest Linwood 4. 'A whole, perfect thing': Sibling Bonds and Anti-slavery Politics in Harriet Beecher Stowe's Dred 5. Reconstructing Siblings in the African American Nadir: Siblings in Post-Reconstruction Novels by Frances E. W. Harper, Pauline Hopkins, and Charles Chesnutt Epilogue: Sibling Romance in/and the Canon; Or, the Ambiguities

Editorial Reviews

"Sibling Romance in American Fiction, 1835 1900 offers an expansive and engaging look at the brother-sister bond in nineteenth-century American literature." - American Studies

"Van Dette is the first scholar to explore the important issue of brother-sister ties in nineteenth-century American literature. She argues convincingly that domestic fiction writers used the sibling relationship to address the tensions between independence and solidarity during the nation's long crisis of union. Lucid and accessible, this book will be of interest to scholars of American literature, American history, American studies, and family studies." - C. Dallett Hemphill, Ursinus College, USA

From the Publisher