Gender, Fantasy, and Realism in American Literature

Download or read book Gender, Fantasy, and Realism in American Literature written by Alfred Habegger and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 1982 with total page 402 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this study of the 19th-century American novel, the author demonstrates the imaginative continuity between sentimental and realistic fiction and sets out to establish that realism is the central and preeminent literary type in America, a mode grounded in the tradition of women's popular fiction which shaped the nation's reading habits in the mid-19th century. He examines this feminine literature, with its common technique of symbolizing deeper social conflicts through patterns of courtship, marriage, and gender roles. Contends that Howells and James owe much of their fictional domain to the often-disparaged household dramas of these female precursors.