Originally published: New York : Knopf, 1977. With a new preface by the author.
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (page [346] 388) and index.
Contents
Introduction : The legacy of American Victorianism : the meaning of Little Eva -- pt. 1. The sentimentalization of status. Clerical disestablishment -- Feminine disestablishment -- Ministers and mothers : changing and exchanging roles -- pt. 2. The sentimentalization of creed and culture. The loss of theology : from dogma to fiction -- The escape from history : the static imagination -- The domestication of death : the posthumous congregation -- The periodical press : arena for hostility -- pt. 3. Protest : case studies in American romanticism : Margaret Fuller and the disavowal of fiction -- Herman Melville and the revolt against the reader -- Epilogue.