The riven home
Subtitle: narrative rivalry in the American renaissance
By: Ken Egan, Jr.
Publisher: Susquehanna University Press; Associated University Presses
Published: 1997
Place of publication: Selinsgrove, PA; London; Cranbury, NJ
Language: eng
Number of pages: 221
Subjects: American fiction -- 19th century -- History and criticism.; Domestic fiction, American -- History and criticism.; Narration (Rhetoric) -- History -- 19th century.; Home in literature.; United States -- Intellectual life -- 19th century.
Description: Antebellum culture celebrated the home as the site of nurture, affection, and equality; indeed, the middle-class home became the model of American institutions and values. Narratives from the American Renaissance, however, reveal that this was a conflicted, strained ideal. Stories from the culture represent intense social, political, and literary rivalry.

Thus, writers such as Cooper, Douglass, Stowe, Melville, and Southworth projected competing visions of "the American family," visions that challenged the claims of other writers. Building upon theories of Poe, Bakhtin, and Bloom, this study carefully traces the intertextual struggles over the nation's meaning.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 207-216) and index.