ALL THE HAPPY ENDINGS

by Helen Waite Papashvily ‧ RELEASE DATE: N/A

A study of the domestic novel, the women who wrote it, the women who read it, in the nineteenth century"" explores the times that brought it about along with the dream world it envisioned and clearly indicates the genesis of the soap opera of today. From a world in which there was active and passive rebellion against woman's lot came the written word of women who, under the press of poverty, supporting a family -- and, sometimes, a husband -- and the dissatisfactions of life that spoke of an undeclared war against the managing male. Before the wildfire fame of The Wide Wide World of Elizabeth Wetherell (Susan Warner) on to the writings of Hale, Sigourney, Sedgwick, Gilman, (even a man, T.S. Arthur), and Mrs. E.D.E.N. Southworth, ""Pansy"", Stowe, the Elsie books, and Libbey -- the hunt was on -- sentimental, lachrymose, and intent on ""emasculating"" the heroes while gradually liberating its heroines, long suffering but always, at the end, capable. The weighing in of the virtues of the books is balanced against their shortcomings; the biographical accompaniments reveal curious similarities; the volume of production with its attendant ""works in progress"" tension is, often, amazing. The proof positive of excerpts from the books makes a lively review of the period. Literary curiosa -- with a point.

Pub Date: N/A

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Harper

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1956

Categories: NONFICTION