Family kinship sympathy

Cindy Weinstein0521842530, 9780521842532, 9780511265679

Cindy Weinstein radically revises our understanding of nineteenth-century sentimental literature. Arguing that these novels are far more complex than critics have suggested, Weinstein expands the archive of sentimental novels to include some of the more popular, though under-examined writers, and shows how canonical texts can take on new meaning when read in the context of these novels. She demonstrates the aesthetic and political complexities of this influential genre and its impact on Stowe, Twain and Melville.

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Table of contents :
Cover……Page 1
Half-title……Page 3
Series-title……Page 4
Title……Page 5
Copyright……Page 6
Dedication……Page 7
Contents……Page 9
Acknowledgments……Page 11
Introduction……Page 13
CHAPTER 1 In loco parentis……Page 28
I Houses divided……Page 30
II “We are all orphans.” (Rena; or, The Snow Bird)……Page 37
III “And you are ‘Lena –’ Lena Nichols, they call you, I suppose.”……Page 43
IV “A relation of yourn, mebby?” (‘Lena Rivers, 366)……Page 47
V “Which lot would you choose for a child?” (The Sable Cloud, 126)……Page 51
CHAPTER 2 “A sort of adopted daughter”: family relations in The Lamplighter……Page 57
I “Who are you?” (53)……Page 60
II In the best interests of the child……Page 64
III Judicious Sympathy……Page 71
CHAPTER 3 Thinking through sympathy: Kemble, Hentz, and Stowe……Page 78
I The south reads Stowe……Page 80
II “I could hardly restrain my feelings”: Kemble’s Journal……Page 82
III The Southern heart; or, The Planter’s Northern Bride……Page 88
IV Reading the Code Noir……Page 97
CHAPTER 4 Behind the scenes of sentimental novels: Ida May and Twelve Years a Slave……Page 107
I Kemble’s house divided……Page 109
II “Am I a slave?”……Page 115
III “My narrative is at an end”……Page 122
IV “Who ain’t a slave?” (Moby-Dick)……Page 134
CHAPTER 5 Love American style: The Wide, Wide World……Page 142
I Ellen’s bondage……Page 146
II Are you my father?……Page 154
III Ellen’s freedom; compromises, circa 1850……Page 164
CHAPTER 6 We are family, or Melville’s Pierre……Page 171
I “And but beginningly as it were” (117)……Page 173
II “But not thus…yet so like” (70)……Page 177
III “I love my kind” (157)……Page 184
IV “It is the law.” (274)……Page 194
Afterword……Page 197
Introduction……Page 203
1 In loco parentis……Page 207
2 “A sort of adopted daughter”: family relations in The Lamplighter……Page 214
3 Thinking through sympathy: Kemble, Hentz, and Stowe……Page 219
4 Behind the scenes of sentimental novels: Ida May and Twelve Years a Slave……Page 224
5 Love American style: The Wide, Wide World……Page 229
6 We are family, or Melville’s Pierre……Page 234
Afterword……Page 239
Select bibliography……Page 240
Index……Page 249