What does it feel like to be part of a nation? This class will study the 19th-century American literary movement of sentimentality in order to think about how people’s emotional lives govern their participation and belonging in the political and social world we call America. In particular, we will think about the powerful force women’s feelings have in shaping American political culture. We will consider the role of women’s feelings—both those of white women and of women of color—in the movement for the abolition of slavery and against Indigenous dispossession in order to consider how feelings can come to stand in for politics and can foster political belonging, for better or for worse. How do women’s feelings work to solidify or push back on a political status quo?
Underlying these historical inquiries is a question about why over 50% of white women voted for Trump, and how we might look to the 19th century to better understand the contemporary emotional-political landscape of ascendent white supremacy. How might reading 19th-century women’s literature help us better understand contemporary debates about abortion, “Diversity Equity and Inclusion,” and trans and queer life? How might might we trace the lineage of contemporary figures, like “the Karen” to the 19th-century?
Alongside our core literary texts, we will read literary criticism and history about sentimentality and sentimental literature, as well as selections from contemporary queer theory and Black and Indigenous studies. Because many of these texts were part of mass culture in the time they were published, we will also example contemporary cultural artifacts, media, and criticism, such as TV, social media, magazine articles, etc.
Possible texts:
Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852)
Harriet Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861)
Louisa May Alcott, Little Women (1868) (and contemporary film adaptation)
Lydia Maria Child, “The Quadroons” (1842)
Julia Ward Howe, The Hermaphrodite (1846)
Kyla Schuller, The Trouble with White Women (2021)
Lauren Berlant, selections from The Queen of America Goes to Washington City (1997) and The Female Complaint (2008)
Jane Ward, The Tragedy of Heterosexuality (2020)
Assignments:
Weekly short response papers (300 words x 8)
Close Reading essay (1500 words)
Contermporary Connections essay (1500 words)
Research paper proposal & annotated bibliography (1000 words)
Final Research Paper (3000 words)