Language and Gender in American Fiction: Howells, James, Wharton and Cather

A solid addition to 19th century literary studies investigating how William Dean Howells, Henry James, Edith Wharton, and Willa Cather contributed to the perpetuation and subversion of Victorian ideologies of language and gender. Nettels (English, College and William and Mary) gauges how each responded to the assumptions held by the popular magazines that published them, defined "masculine" and "feminine" in their work, characterized women's language, distinguished male and female discourse, and variously engaged in the "construction of gender." Furthermore, Nettels points out the parity between the writers during their own time and the subsequent drop in canonical esteem suffered by Wharton and Cather. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.