- Home
- literary criticism
- Fictions of Western American Domesticity
Fictions of Western American Domesticity
Indian, Mexican, and Anglo Women in Print Culture, 1850–1950
Published by: University of New Mexico Press
This work provides a compelling explanation of something that has bedeviled a number of feminist scholars: Why did popular authors like Edna Ferber continue to write conventional fiction while living lives that were far from conventional? Amanda J. Zink argues that white writers like Ferber and Willa Cather avoided the subject of their own domestic labor by writing about the performance of domestic labor by "others," showing that American print culture, both in novels and through advertisements, moved away from portraying women as angels in the house and instead sought to persuade other women to be angels in their houses. Zink further explores lesser-known works such as Mexican American cookbooks and essays in Indian boarding school magazines to show how women writers "dialoging domesticity" exemplify the cross-cultural encounters between "colonial domesticity" and "sovereign domesticity." By situating these interpretations of literature within their historical contexts, Zink shows how these writers championed and challenged the ideology of domesticity.
Amanda J. Zink is an assistant professor in the Department of English and Philosophy at Idaho State University. Her essays have appeared in several publications, including Studies in American Indian Literatures, Studies in American Fiction, and Western American Literature.
"This is a valuable addition to scholarship not only for its interpretations but also for its discoveries, and it will benefit scholars for years to come."--Donna Campbell, MELUS
"Amanda J. Zink has tackled an ambitious project of recovery and recasting in which she skillfully juxtaposes an impressive archive of written and visual materials."--Amber La Piana, Legacy: A Journal of American Women Writers
"Her work is thoughtfully attentive to the context in which these writings appeared, with convincing arguments about authorial and editorial intent grounded in a careful analysis of the advertisements that ran opposite the short stories and prescriptive articles she examines."--Western Historical Quarterly
"Her work on Native boarding school publications and student writers is excellent, valuable research on which others can build. There is much to discover here."--Western American Literature
"Ultimately, Zink's book provides an exciting insight into domesticity and how that in turn further affected racial divides in the Great Plains between 1850 and 1950."--Kylie M. Gower, Great Plains Quarterly
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction. The Literature of Modern American Domesticity
Chapter One. Delegating Domesticity: White Women Writers and the New American Housekeepers
Chapter Two. Dialoging Domesticity: Resisting and Assimilating "The American Lady" in Early Mexican American Women's Writing
Chapter Three. Regulating Domesticity: Carlisle School's Publications and Children's Books for "American Princesses"
Chapter Four. Practicing Domesticity: From Domestic Outing Programs to Sovereign Domesticity
Epilogue. Fashioning Femininity: "Types of American Girls," "Types of Indian Girls," and the "Wrong Kind of (Mexican) Woman"
Appendix. Advertisements for and Reviews of Evelyn Hunt Raymond Novels
Notes
Bibliography
Index