Voices of the nation
Subtitle: women and public speech in nineteenth-century American literature and culture
By: Caroline Field Levander.
Series: Cambridge studies in American literature and culture ;; 114
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 1998
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 186
Subjects: American fiction -- 19th century -- History and criticism; Women and literature -- United States -- History -- 19th century; American fiction -- Women authors -- History and criticism; Public speaking for women -- History -- 19th century; Public speaking for women in literature; Oratory in literature; Speech in literature; Voice in literature; Women in literature
Description: Throughout the nineteenth century, American fiction displayed a fascination with women's speech - describing how women's voices sound and what reactions their speech produces, especially in their male listeners. Closer inspection of these recurring descriptions reveals that they also performed political work that has had a profound - though until now unspecified - impact on American culture.

Caroline Leyander illustrates how commentaries on the female voice, propounded by such writers as Henry James, William Dean Howells, and Noah Webster, played a central role in attempts to define and enforce the radical social changes instituted by the emerging bourgeoisie. Levander also shows how nineteenth-century women authors depicted the female voice as a central theme in their novels and how these portrayals affected public speech.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 167-180) and index.
Revision of author's thesis (Ph. D.)--Trinity University.