The Rise of American Girls' Literature
This Element looks at the publishing history of the genre, girls' literature, in the United States spanning 1850–1940. The genre is set in context, beginning with an examination of the early American women's literature that preceded girls' literature. Then the Element explores several sub-genres of girls' literature, the family story, orphan story, school story, as well as African American girls' literature. Underpinning each of these stories is the bildungsroman, which overwhelmingly ends with girls 'growing down' to marry and raise children, following the ideals outlined in the cult of domesticity.
Product details
June 2021Paperback
9781108931540
75 pages
177 × 125 × 7 mm
0.12kg
Available
Table of Contents
- 1. The Rise of Girls' Literature
- 2. 'Thus Shall the Star of Domestic Peace Arise': Early American Women's Literature
- 3. 'Toward that Larger and Less Happy Region of Womanhood': Family Stories
- 4. 'The Joys of Being an Orphan': Orphan Girls' Stories
- 5. 'Vassar Graduates do Marry': School Stories
- 6. 'This is What Our Race Needs': African American Girls' Literature
- 7. Conclusion.