The Artistry of Anger: Black and White Women's Literature in America, 1820-1860 (Gender and American Culture)

265 Pages·2002·0.93 MB·English

by  Linda M. Grasso

the artistry of anger
G A C
ender and merican ulture
coeditors
Thadious M. Davis
Linda K. Kerber
editorial advisory board
Nancy Cott
Cathy N. Davidson
Jane Sherron De Hart
Sara Evans
Mary Kelley
Annette Kolodny
Wendy Martin
Nell Irvin Painter
Janice Radway
Barbara Sicherman
T
he
A
rtistry
of
Black and White
Women’s Literature in
America, 1820–1860
Linda M. Grasso
The University of North Carolina Press
Chapel Hill and London
∫ 2002 The University of North Carolina Press
All rights reserved
Designed by April Leidig-Higgins
Set in Monotype Centaur by Keystone Typesetting, Inc.
Manufactured in the United States of America
The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the
Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library
Resources.
Portions of Chapter 6 appeared previously, in somewhat di√erent form, in ‘‘Anger in the
House: Fanny Fern’s Ruth Hall and the Redrawing of Emotional Boundaries in Mid-
Nineteenth-Century America,’’ Studies in the American Renaissance (1995): 251–61.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Grasso, Linda M.
The artistry of anger : black and white women’s literature in America, 1820–1860 /
Linda M. Grasso.
p. cm. — (Gender and American culture)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 0-8078-2682-0 (cloth : alk. paper) — isbn 0-8078-5348-8 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. American fiction—Women authors—History and criticism. 2. Feminism and
literature—United States—History—19th century. 3. Women and literature—United
States—History—19th century. 4. American fiction—African American authors—History
and criticism. 5. American fiction—19th century—History and criticism. 6. Feminist
fiction, American—History and criticism. 7. African American women in literature.
8. Social problems in literature. 9. White women in literature. 10. Anger in literature.
I. Title. II. Gender & American culture.
ps374.f45 g73 2002
813%.3099287—dc21 2001040614
Cloth 06 05 04 03 02 5 4 3 2 1
Paper 06 05 04 03 02 5 4 3 2 1
T
o my teachers
Bonnie Anderson, Mari Jo Buhle, Kenneth Bru√ee,
Thadious Davis, David Hirsch, Robert Lee,
Doris Meyer, Linda Miller, Katherine A. Monteiro,
Steven Murray, Lillian Schlissel, Michael Southwell
and to my students
at Brown University, Columbus State University,
and the City University of New York (Brooklyn
College and York College)

contents
Acknowledgments ix
Part One. The Anger Paradigm: Theories and Contexts
Chapter One
Anger as Analysis and Aesthetic in American Women’s Literature 3
Chapter Two
Using the Anger Paradigm: The Antebellum Period as Case Study 19
Chapter Three
Suppressing Treasonous Anger: Nation-Building and Gendered
Ideologies of Anger in Antebellum America 41
Part Two. Anger in the House and in the Text: Four Case Studies
Chapter Four
Anger, Exile, and Restitution in Lydia Maria Child’s Hobomok 71
Chapter Five
Maria W. Stewart’s Inspired Wrath 101
Chapter Six
Masking Anger as It Is Spoken: Fanny Fern’s Ruth Hall 135
Chapter Seven
The Text as Courtroom: Judgment, Vengeance, and Punishment
in Harriet Wilson’s Our Nig 163
Conclusion: Making Sure the Anger Holds 193
Notes 197
Bibliography 219
Index 239
acknowledgments
Over the years, I often wished that what many nineteenth-century women
claimed had happened to them would happen to me: that a deity would write
the book for me. Although this never occurred, I am grateful to the many
individuals, communities, and institutions who extended intellectual energy,
emotional sustenance, and financial resources during the many years I
worked on this book. The generosity of these gifts was indeed godlike to the
struggling scholar who ‘‘scribbled on,’’ hoping that her manuscript would
eventually enter the ‘‘port of Independence.’’
At Brown University, where this book assumed its first life as a doc-
toral dissertation, I was mentored by three extraordinary scholars: Thadi-
ous Davis, Mari Jo Buhle, and David Hirsh. Each guided me through the
dissertation-writing process with patience, wisdom, and humor. I am par-
ticularly grateful to Thadious Davis for her steadfast belief in the project
since its inception; to Mari Jo Buhle for teaching me how to understand
nineteenth-century women on their own terms; and to David Hirsh for
encouraging me to take intellectual risks. I regret that David is not here to see
how I have continued to heed his counsel.
Many scholars and friends helped me to refine my ideas about nineteenth-
century women writers and anger as this project evolved. Bonnie Anderson,
Gail Bederman, Frederick DeNaples, Ann Du Cille, Nora Eisenberg, Ruth
Feldstein, Cheryl Fish, Elizabeth Francis, Jane Gerhard, Katie Hogan, Eliza
La≈n, Carol Mason, Melani McCalister, Bob McMichael, Kate Monteiro,