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Hawthorne's play on gender and sexuality in "The Blithedale Romance"

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Date Issued:
2006
Summary:
Feminist critics have primarily concentrated on the character of Zenobia, Nathaniel Hawthorne's premier feminist in The Blithedale Romance, to unravel Hawthorne's stance on the emergent sexual politics of the time. This thesis not only examines the importance of Zenobia but also analyzes the significance of Hawthorne's allusions to gender and sexuality constructs in terms of his other characters: Coverdale, Hollingsworth, Priscilla, Westervelt, and Moodie. In addition, I argue that Hawthorne's purpose is to experiment with societal constructs of gender and sexuality among his central characters, a literary experiment that inadvertently subverts his ostensible traditional, patriarchal perspective. In essence, my reading aims to reorientate the conventional presuppositions and gender conventions that have dominated Hawthorne criticism for the past 150 years.
Title: Hawthorne's play on gender and sexuality in "The Blithedale Romance".
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Name(s): Rubin, Brooke J.
Florida Atlantic University, Degree grantor
Blakemore, Steven, Thesis advisor
Type of Resource: text
Genre: Electronic Thesis Or Dissertation
Issuance: monographic
Date Issued: 2006
Publisher: Florida Atlantic University
Place of Publication: Boca Raton, Fla.
Physical Form: application/pdf
Extent: 69 p.
Language(s): English
Summary: Feminist critics have primarily concentrated on the character of Zenobia, Nathaniel Hawthorne's premier feminist in The Blithedale Romance, to unravel Hawthorne's stance on the emergent sexual politics of the time. This thesis not only examines the importance of Zenobia but also analyzes the significance of Hawthorne's allusions to gender and sexuality constructs in terms of his other characters: Coverdale, Hollingsworth, Priscilla, Westervelt, and Moodie. In addition, I argue that Hawthorne's purpose is to experiment with societal constructs of gender and sexuality among his central characters, a literary experiment that inadvertently subverts his ostensible traditional, patriarchal perspective. In essence, my reading aims to reorientate the conventional presuppositions and gender conventions that have dominated Hawthorne criticism for the past 150 years.
Identifier: 9780542589171 (isbn), 13353 (digitool), FADT13353 (IID), fau:10203 (fedora)
Collection: FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection
Note(s): Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2006.
Subject(s): Hawthorne, Nathaniel,--1804-1864--Blithedale romance
Hawthorne, Nathaniel,--1804-1864--Political and social views
American fiction--19th century--Criticism and interpretation
Women in literature
Sex role in literature
Held by: Florida Atlantic University Libraries
Persistent Link to This Record: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/13353
Sublocation: Digital Library
Use and Reproduction: Copyright © is held by the author, with permission granted to Florida Atlantic University to digitize, archive and distribute this item for non-profit research and educational purposes. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions requires permission of the copyright holder.
Use and Reproduction: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Host Institution: FAU
Is Part of Series: Florida Atlantic University Digital Library Collections.