Style gender and fantasy in nineteenth century american womens writing Introduction: Highly wrought styleFlorid fantasies : Fuller Stephens and the other language of flowers Sensing the soul : mesmerism feminism and highly wrought fiction Harriet Prescott Spoffords Philosophy of composition Pauline Hopkins Baroque folds : the styled form of Winona Coda.The value of ornament : Gilman and Wharton. Dorri Beam presents an important contribution to nineteenth century fiction by examining how and why a florid and sensuous style came to be adopted by so many authors. Discussing a diverse range of authors including Margaret Fuller and Pauline Hopkins Beam traces this style through a variety of literary endeavors and reconstructs the political rationale behind the writers commitments to this form of prose. Beam provides both close readings of a number of familiar and unfamiliar works and an overarching account of the importance of this form of writing suggesting new ways of looking at how gender determines literary style. Style Gender and Fantasy in Nineteenth Century American Womens Writing redefines our understanding of womens relation to aesthetics and their contribution to both American literary romanticism and feminist reform. This illuminating account provides valuable new insights for scholars of American literature and womens writing