THE FEMINIZATION OF AMERICAN CULTURE

by Ann Douglas ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 1977

In this judicious reinterpretation of 19th-century American culture, literary scholar and feminist Douglas chronicles the breakdown of Calvinist theology and social structures and the failure of the young nation, preoccupied with aggressive capitalism, to develop a ""viable, sexually diversified culture"" in replacement. Instead ""masculine"" marketplace pursuits were rationalized by exalting in parlor and Sunday school the ""feminine"" ideal of tender feelings and entrusting this higher sensibility to the guardianship of Northeastern ladies. Denied serious education and real occupation, these ""birds"" sought power by exploiting the feminine identity assigned them. Led by anti-feminist Sarah Hale, editor of Godey's Lady's Book, they tried to exert ""influence"" in what H. B. Stowe called ""the pink and white tyranny."" Increasingly relegated to the parlor, ""useful"" only as saints or buyers, they became the writers and readers of a burgeoning book and periodical trade, the chief consumers of a popular culture intrinsically phony and inevitably sentimental. In uneasy, competitive alliance with the ladies stand the equally threatened, powerless, ""feminized"" clergy of the disestablished church. Women and ministers together produce damaging effects: theology becomes religiosity, history becomes literature, and literature becomes cloying. Male hegemony continues, hidden behind sentimental skirts. Opposition to these tendencies was formidable--Fuller's life and Melville's work are reevaluated as cases in point--but the sentimentalists, weeping at Little Eva's deathbed, win the century. Among the losers: ""the life of the mind,"" feminism, and our best novelists. Later efforts to ""re-masculinize"" the culture--from social Darwinism to San Juan Hill--become part of the established anti-intellectual tradition. This is a richly peopled book; the 30 ladies and 30 clergymen studied include familiar names from Alcott to Willard, and the Beechers are here in force. Douglas examines their writings-novels, pamphlets, memoirs--and analyzes their favorite interests, from sexual scandal to the rural cemetery movement. Only economic considerations are scanted. Dense, penetrating, well-documented.

Pub Date: April 1, 1977

ISBN: 0374525587

Page Count: -

Publisher: Knopf

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1977

Categories: NONFICTION