Title: Hungry heart
First published: 1999
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attention to Passion-Flowers, a celebrated yet controversial volume of poems published in 1854, as well as to an unpublished 400-page story that features a hermaphrodite as its protagonist.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.
Subjects: American Authors, Authors, American, Biography, Feminists, History, Women and literature, General, Literary, American, LITERARY CRITICISM, BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY, Howe, julia ward, 1819-1910, American Women authors
Places: United States
People: Julia Ward Howe (1819-1910)
Time periods: 19th century
LC classification: PS2018 .W55 1999