Hungry heart
Subtitle: the literary emergence of Julia Ward Howe
By: Gary Williams.
Publisher: University of Massachusetts Press
Published: 1999
Place of publication: Amherst
Language: eng
Number of pages: 273
Subjects: Howe, Julia Ward, 1819-1910.; Women and literature -- United States -- History -- 19th century.; Authors, American -- 19th century -- Biography.; Feminists -- United States -- Biography.
Description: Hungry Heart reexamines the early literary career of Julia Ward Howe (1819-1910), best remembered as the author of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic." Combining biographical narrative with textual analysis, Gary Williams reconstructs Howe's emergence as a writer against the backdrop of her deeply troubled marriage to Boston philanthropist Samuel Gridley Howe.

Among her early writings, Williams pays particular attention to Passion-Flowers, a celebrated yet controversial volume of poems published in 1854, as well as to an unpublished 400-page story that features a hermaphrodite as its protagonist. Williams shows how this latter work, startling in its bold exploration of sexual ambiguities, reflects Howe's effort to come to terms with her husband's intimate attachment to the prominent abolitionist Charles Sumner.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 215-268) and index.