Extreme Domesticity: A View From The Margins

278 Pages·2017·8.55 MB·English

by  Susan Fraiman

E X T R E M E
D O M E S T I C I T Y
A V I E W
from the
M A R G I N S

S U S A N F R A I M A N
EXTREME DOMESTICITY
GENDER AND CULTURE
GENDER AND CULTURE
A SERIES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS
Nancy K. Miller and Victoria Rosner, Series Editors
Carolyn G. Heilbrun (1926–2003) and Nancy K. Miller, Founding Editors
In Dora’s Case: Freud, Hysteria, Feminism
Edited by Charles Bernheimer and Claire Kahane
Breaking the Chain: Women, Th eory, and French Realist Fiction
Naomi Schor
Between Men: English Literature and Male Homosocial Desire
Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick
Romantic Imprisonment: Women and Other Glorifi ed Outcasts
Nina Auerbach
Th e Poetics of Gender
Edited by Nancy K. Miller
Reading Woman: Essays in Feminist Criticism
Mary Jacobus
Honey-Mad Women: Emancipatory Strategies in Women’s Writing
Patricia Yaeger
Subject to Change: Reading Feminist Writing
Nancy K. Miller
Th inking Th rough the Body
Jane Gallop
Gender and the Politics of History
Joan Wallach Scott
For a complete list of titles see page 261
E X T R E M E
D O M E S T I C I T Y
A V I E W
from the
M A R G I N S
SUSAN FRAIMAN
Columbia University Press
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Columbia University Press
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Fraiman, Susan, author.
Title: Extreme domesticity : a view from the margins / Susan Fraiman.
Description: New York : Columbia University Press, 2016. |
Series: Gender and culture | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifi ers: LCCN 2016022755 (print) | LCCN 2016040222 (e- book) |
ISBN 9780231166348 (cloth : acid- free paper) | ISBN 9780231543750 (e- book)
Subjects: LCSH: American lit er a ture—20th century— History and criticism. |
En glish lit er a ture—20th century— History and criticism. | Women and
lit er a ture. | Domestic relations in lit era ture. | American lit er a ture— Women
authors— History and criticism. | En glish lit er a ture— Women authors—
History and criticism. | Home in lit er a ture.
Classifi cation: LCC PS228.W65 F73 2016 (print) | LCC PS228.W65 (e- book) |
DDC 810.9/9287— dc23
LC rec ord available at https:// lccn . loc . gov / 2016022755

Columbia University Press books are printed on permanent
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Printed in the United States of America
C over image: Curro Ulzurrun, Paisaje con Niebla (2007)
Photographer: Manuel Blanco
C over design : Rebecca Lown
book design: Lisa Hamm
FOR JEFF
•

CONTENTS
Acknowledgments ix
INTRODUCTION: DOING DOMESTICITY
1
1 SHELTER WRITING: DESPERATE HOUSEKEEPING
FROM CRUSOE TO QUEER EYE
25
2 BEHIND THE CURTAIN: DOMESTIC INDUSTRY
IN MARY BARTON
45
3 DOMESTICITY BEYOND SENTIMENT:
EDITH WHARTON, DECORATION, AND DIVORCE
68
4 BAD GIRLS OF GOOD HOUSEKEEPING:
DOMINIQUE BROWNING AND MARTHA STEWART
95
viii(cid:3)CONTENTS
5 UNDOCUMENTED HOMES: HISTORIES
OF DISLOCATION IN IMMIGRANT FICTION
118
6 DOMESTICITY IN EXTREMIS: HOMEMAKING
BY THE UNSHELTERED
154
CONCLUSION: DWELLING-IN-TRAVELING,
TRAVELING-IN-DWELLING
192
Notes 199
Bibliography 235
Index 251
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
T
his book has been a while in the making and has, along the way,
benefi ted from the support and input of many. Th e University
of Virginia gave me time to write by granting me several Faculty
Research Fellowships. I am hugely indebted to my generous colleagues
in the English Department for their advice and friendship. Cindy Wall
shared bibliographical references along with the wisdom of her own
work on domestic description in early novels. Sandhya Shukla’s astute
reading of chapter 6 helped me clarify my use of ethnographic materials.
Anna Brickhouse off ered not only valuable feedback on chapter 5 but
also, over the course of countless walks, a sounding board for developing
ideas—and always with characteristic discernment and kindness. Rita
Felski has been a source of inspiration and support throughout this
project. My own thoughts on everyday life are crucially informed by her
important contributions to this area. She read the fi rst installment of this
book and the last. Th ere’s no one whose professional and editorial judg-
ment I trust more. For many fortunate years now, I have been buoyed up
personally and professionally by Debbie McDowell, Vicki Olwell, Jahan
Ramazani, Caroline Rody, and Chip Tucker. Over at the School of Archi-
tecture, Richard Guy Wilson saved me from an error in my discussion
of Edith Wharton’s Th e Decoration of Houses . To all of these wonderful
UVA scholars, my heartfelt thanks.