19th Century British History - Victorian Era (1837-1901), Popular Culture - Great Britain, Popular Culture - General & Miscellaneous, 20th Century British History - Social Aspects, Women's Studies - General & Miscellaneous
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Overview
In British and American representations of girlhood during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, adolescent girls were viewed both as figures of adornment and as creatures in need of refuge, rescue, and reform. This engrossing book investigates such portrayals of girlhood by analyzing children's and adult's literature, conduct manuals, religious tracts, institutions for wayward girls, as well as social practices and phenomena, including the dowry system and the domestic science movement. Employing the methods of feminist theory and cultural studies, Lynne Vallone examines the historical and social production of girls' culture in Britain and America - from eighteenth-century English asylums for penitent prostitutes and rescue homes in late nineteenth-century America to such social and legal practices as marriage settlements in which the upper-class girl's "jewel" of chastity enhanced her bride-price. Vallone's study also brings new insights to a wide range of literature concerning female adolescence, offering in-depth readings of Pamela and Little Women, as well as works by Jane Austen, Frances Burney, Sarah Fielding, and Hannah More.Editorials
Library Journal
Vallone (English, Texas A&M) analyzes novels and plays, including Pamela, Eveline, Alice in Wonderland, and Little Women, conduct manuals, religious tracts, and redemptive institutions for "fallen" girls to illustrate the character traits society found proper for adolescent girls in the 18th and 19th centuries. She contrasts these traits with those approved for boys in books like Tom Saywer and finds a significant disparity. Her analysis is convincing, but at times shifts of subject are too abrupt. Chapter 1 begins with a quote from a 16th-century sermon, but its pertinence is not explained for several paragraphs. Plot synopses of the less well known texts would also be helpful. Nevertheless, this is an interesting and well-documented study; recommended for academic libraries.-Sharon Firestone, Ross-Blakley Law Lib., Arizona State Univ., TempeBook Details
Published
July 4, 1995
Publisher
New Haven : Yale University Press, c1995.
Pages
240
Format
Hardcover
ISBN
9780300061727