Melodramas of Beset Manhood: How Theories of American Fiction Exclude Women Authors Author(s): Nina Baym Reviewed work(s): Source: American Quarterly, Vol. 33, No. 2 (Summer, 1981), pp. 123-139 Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2712312 . Accessed: 19/02/2013 17:54 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. . The Johns Hopkins University Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to American Quarterly. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded on Tue, 19 Feb 2013 17:54:25 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions WhatManner of Woman: Essays on English and AmericanLife LITERARY CRITICISM RATHER THAN This content downloaded on Tue. among divided chronologically we that thecharge seriously WarII. and Literature 1 Marlene Springer. theearliest ers. (New York:New YorkUniv. My forthewaywe readthem. 19 Feb 2013 17:54:25 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions .MELODRAMAS OF BESET MANHOOD: HOW THEORIES OF AMERICAN FICTION EXCLUDE WOMEN AUTHORS NINA BA YM ofIllinois University THIS PAPER IS ABOUT AMERICAN read we never that theassumption from It proceeds American literature.' literature. account and theories in anthologies. The mestheperiod between1865and 1940no women womenas our subject-conveyedwas sage thatwe-who weretaking the in America. authors ofwomen canliterature haveledtotheexclusion Let me use my own practiceas a case in point. was Emily The fourth landson and SarahKembleKnight.Threeofthesewerefrom MaryRowand the two diarists the novel: the poet Anne Bradstreet For Dickinson. authors. American literessayscovering with four sixcritics. writwomen onlyfour of each other-selectedaltogether independently which predates a period period.In 1977therewas and inmajorBritish ofwomen ofessayson images a collection published fieldwas The American to whichI contributed. texts ofAmeriourreading controlling thetheories that thefact concern is with from thecanon. directly American literature of and exclusion fortheinclusion account Theories allowedby theories. whenwe wrote and make our own decisionsas to who the major literature American authors were.1977). majornovelists all to reread ouressayswe werenotundertaking Now.. Taking prior to World ature written thefourof us-workingquite wereto focusonlyon themajorfigures. anywomen that canondidnotinclude As lateas 1977. clear: therehave been almostno majorwomenwriters have all been men. theperspective butalwaysthrough orfreely. werecitedat all. Thatis thepoint:we acceptedthegoingcanonof major novelists. ed.Press. thecritic thatwomen quickly discovers in America production of literary totality Commerdaysof settlement.2 appearing werepublished works offiction to any have not yetbeen attributed or anonymously.is probably themostwidely read was probably Mrs.E. and hencedoes not see themeven whentheyare right buthis maywellbe nonsexist before hiseyes. of thekind havenotwritten women infact. The critic activewomenauthors in America. 19 Feb 2013 17:54:25 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions . A secondpossibility their with workthatwe call "excellent. are theworkofeighteen twenty-nine author.HannahFoster. Charlotte (also known as CharlotteTemple). areconfronted minds they slipoutofgearwhen thisis onlya partial explanation. The remaining wrote Rowson. In theyearsbehelpmakethisdominance Names and figures Congress oftheFirstContinental thecalling tween1774and 1799-from original century-a totalof thirty-eight to the close of the eighteenth Nineofthese. arewomen. pseudonymously individuals. bythemiddle eighty of the fourwomen. have beenactivesincetheearliest authors literature American dominated they haveprobably andnumerically cially Nathaniel As longago as 1854. practice in themindset of a powerfully authors as serious writers has functioned theincondemonstrate One can amusingly critics.andtheseauthors. clear.1969).The first women does notbelievethat as writers. Calif. sellerin American biggest the all-time woman.N. or histoHow is itpossiblefora critic century.Thisis a serious possibility.D. woman. number of influential in suchcritics. rian thepicture? ofthemany invisibility I see three forthecritical explanations partial is simplebias.Her mostpopularwork. or morethana fifth This content downloaded on Tue.was called The Coquetteand had century.124 American Quarterly nineteen times between1800and 1810.:Huntington AmericanFiction 1774-1850 (San Marino. century. by a editionsby mid-nineteenth thirty A history.E. novelist inthenineteenth outof ofAmerican literature toleavethesebooks. A novelbya second ofthenineteenth times century.His theory orhisstandards women to recognizing an a prioriresistance is not. inthiscountry. is that.and thedecade itwas published. does notliketheidea ofwomen can be writers. was printedthreetimes in to lookat the whatis acceptedandtries whogoes beyond Yet. showhowtheir and practice standard between sistencies But with a woman author."forreasonsthatare connected Forexamfrom it. separable although gender Library 2 See LyleWright. Uncle Tom's Cabin. Certainly. six of them. ofthenineteenth sincethemiddle about the "damn'd mob of complainedto his publisher Hawthorne diverting imagined-were fondly women"whosewritings-he scribbling thepublicfrom hisown. Press. of the total. Southworth. Susannah ofwhom four One ofthesewomen. ture developed This content downloaded on Tue. after one accepts as a consequence literature. quinRomances. choiceas wellas by socialpressure ignore cannot critic andtheresponsible operative. it back to earlier it couldnotbe judgedby referring Therefore. The pointhereis thatthe notionof the artist. producedin thisnationwould have to be has assumedthatliterature andcompletely ofthenewnation. paramount. wouldnotbe gender connected. forus to be servile a standcritic lookedfor theearly itsowninherent forms. is notonlya personal literature thatdo notaimin any We can all think of speciesofwomen'sliterature it:e. that do notarise restrictions gender-related Thereare.on an earlier anachronistically. in a giventimeand reflects efficacy preference.Thisis thepartial explanation essentially literature begin. theories of American Let us beginwheretheearliest is to be judgedless by its thatAmerican literature withthehypothesis excellence by one ascertains literary Traditionally. itis also a cultural preference.Women lent literature genderthem. werereally restrictions explanatory.Melodramas of Beset Manhood 125 of classical allusionin all pie.g. themto professionalism womenleading literary The gender-related and opportunity.but theyimposetheirconcerns realities pertinent period. the"Harledefines as society excellence wayto achieveliterary women ofliterary proportion onlya tiny recently. original.therestriction that we calledexcellent. by rather thanartistry. has or of excellence. works ofexcelauthorship ofrestricting to menwouldhavetheeffect education literature excellent wouldnothavewritten to men. that male. otic. equaltothechallenge ground-breaking. I believe.. suppose we requireda dense texture classical ofa formal Then. are onlypartly But again. critics beganto talkabout literary achievements. thanitscontent."Until by their defined excellencein the terms and literary aspiredto artistry of in theambitions to be a sortofimmediacy Theretended ownculture. 19 Feb 2013 17:54:25 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions . to theirown time. The idea of "good" social realities. butoutof with woman. thewriting contemporary outofcultural realities from cultural naturally These theories mayfollow latercritical theories.theserestrictions them.The reason.though hindered because social conditions per se.We had thrown thepolitical literaofAmerican Untila tradition in ourliterature. of American renttheories thatis but nevertheless inevitably-aliterature not deliberately perhaps I shallnowdevelop. itwouldnotdo off shackles ofEngland.finally. by earlier criticism American literary Butfrom itshistorical beginnings.If one acceptscurthefact. The earliest American thanthe "'best" workbecause they the ''mostAmerican" workrather to American outthebestother thanby comparing knewno way to find and unpatrithem as bothunfair struck Such a criticism British writing. form that havebeen work with standards ofperformance a writer's comparing are and innovation formal where mastery established authors. have provideda solid theoretical Americanliterature is dominated in thiscountry by of fiction thattheriseand growth lishing 15. uniting nominator written The jointly of democracy.Literary 5Robert E. idea of whatis truly The Romance in America." he agrees "The Americanness titled ingchapter as I have set it up here has no roomforthe sothat"this 'tradition' whoseAmerican F.Press. The American Adam. Matthiessen. eds. Symbolismand American Literature. ofselected andevaluation than a description rather "American" of the term"America" or "American"in recurrence The predictable that indicates authors a dozenorfewer treating ofliterary criticism works to his conformity on thebasis of their has chosenhis authors thecritic Renaissance."butlater. evenbeyond scenewas crude. 19 Feb 2013 17:54:25 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions .theidea of Americanness speakof"mostAmerican. Beginning authors. 4F.The Place of Style in American Literature (a The Poetics of AmericanFiction (anothersubtitle). oftheAmerican Novel. States(NewYork:MacmilHistory oftheUnited etal. . American For examples: American. Theyhave some qualitative ofthisidea of as an explanation work develops their andfrequently mind..126 American Quarterly of excellence."5 whenstudied of in The Romance in Americathat"students announcesconfidently basis forestab.needing is no more demonstration. thana standard rather ard of Americanness it whatever of"Americanness.1941). explains Renaissanceenshrines was and Whitman. Univ.291. called realistsand naturalists. ." they theidea ofthebest. as a nationalistic to thisday. 0."4 to the possibilities theirdevotion LiteraryHistory of the United States proclaims in its "address to the of thebooksof "willbe a history history literary reader"thatAmerican which is mostrevealing in a literature writers and thenear-great thegreat AndJoelPorte of American as a by-product experience. orientation a nationalist retained to subis even morevulnerable Of course. Univ. American This content downloaded on Tue.The was no social surface there responsive artist American ina concludsuccessful satire.But an idea subtitle). Matthiessen. Spiller lan. American for excellence literary be..1963).Form and Fable in American Fiction. 1959). The American Novel and its Tradition. xix. Design(NewYork:Columbia TheEccentric 3Marius Bewley. mostrepresentative seldommeanthestatistically critics essence in themostread or themostsold. evenHawthorne of myfivewriters." thequality itcameto seemthat perhaps. ix. ofwhatis American ends up usinghis chosen authorsas demoncriticall too frequently to his definition.Press.When than jectivity or mosttypical."3 dethat"the one common fiveauthors. constituted might has and theory criticism literary American enterprise. (New York:Oxford Renaissance 0. The thanan idea. authors.Inevitably. through arguing strations Design that"for the So Marius Bewley explainsin The Eccentric to histouch. them ofAmericanness. aspectsof experience common fammortality. at the deserve to be placedwith certainty themes. works onlya handful ofAmerican field. Self)finds to people in a stories aboutuniversals.betrayal. N. 6 Joel Porte.setting Americans thatare American must his from other nations. peculiarly.Melodramas of Beset Manhood 127 to a tradition ofnon-realistic romance ourauthors' consciousadherence of English mainstream novelistic sharply at variancewiththe broadly as to the critics recent among writing. nottheexistence of American contours fiction.Such a as he is including ingcertain writers as "un-American" suspect.Its final result goesfar criticism ithas beenthemethod good. 1969). love. itinAmerican Suchcontent atoneextreme. Jay Yugoslavian immigrants. per se of a romance tradition. thequestion of which butrather authors. critics have generally canonsuggests thatagreement of fadrather thanfixed maybe a matter America as a nation must be theultimate subobjective qualities. identity.The author and character off from other only.119-38.The Romancein America(Middletown. Univ. Spengemann's is William topic 7 A goodessayonthis CentR.22 (1978).1972).8 First. Hubbell.but in proceeding in the politicalarena would be extremely beyond ofchoice. and stylistic strategies added). theme versusexperience is an admissable ily. loss. " Literature? "Whatis American C. 19 Feb 2013 17:54:25 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions . variety oftimes and places-mutability. Hubbell ingratiatsouthern rustics. C.Press. onlyifinnocence is theessenceoftheAmerican means of America thecall foran overview But at theother extreme. storiesof wealthyNew Yorkers. life of some aspectof American thatdetailed. character. Who Are the Major American Authors? (Durham. the critic andhe is as busyexcludthanothers. Conn. The author be writing peopleandthecountry on them.childhood. and to story specifically to displaytheseaspects. excludes. inappropriate: rather B. Whenthere has beendisagreement it has usuallydisputed. democracy. portrayals circumstantial are also. Sacvan Bercovitch(in The Puritan Originsof the American This content downloaded on Tue.7 of number of definitions Despitethe theoretical roomforan infinite agreedon it-althoughtheshifting Americanness. Press.6 heart ofthattradition" (emphasis has had to insist thatsome worksin Beforehe is through. Innocence for example.: Duke 8 See JayB.That ofAmerican works arevery theconclusion that onlya handful is rareinany sincevery goodwork statement is one we couldagreewith. America are muchmoreAmerican others.to meditate about "the" and conclusions derivefromthemsome generalizations of American To Matthiessen the topic is the possibilities experience. must be writing aboutaspectsofexperience ject ofthework. Butitis odd indeed to arguethat are really American. Univ.: Wesleyan ix. .Press. or Howells. as and eccentric can culture hisgloomto be merely .. "Reality in America.A WorldElsewhere: The Place of Style in AmericanLiterature(New 11Lionel Trilling. books which in my view constitutea distinctive that otherwisedominate resistwithintheirpages forces of environment thiskindfrom"the fiction of Mrs. exponentof thisexclusive the mostinfluential Along withMatthiessen... Andinanyculture at leastdebate-it is nothing struggle-or a largepartof thedialectic artists who contain to be certain there are likely intheir and powerlying contradictions. Univ.and James. . 5. theform A culture is nota flow. ifnota dialectic.Hawthorne. thisis notmerely judgment. And so on. Faulkner. Melville. andofcoursetoget to what America themost testimony suggestive no answer from them. York:Oxford This content downloaded on Tue. But note that he does 9 Ibid..Here is a famouspassage from his 1940 essay. they their meaning within themselves. within themselves.1966). 10Richard Poirier. . because it concentrates on thenovel form.. and some others.128 American Quarterly ingly admits as much when he writes. Wharthe world" and he distinguishes 10 the United States The LiteraryHistoryof ton."9 Richard Poirier writesthat "the Americantradition." is to survive as the explains that "historically.thevery essenceoftheculture.. 1950)." in which Trillingis criticizing Vernon Parrington'sselection of authorsin Main Currentsin American Thought: is of itsexistence noreven a confluence. The Liberal Imagination (New York: Anchor.. 7-9. These exclusions memorialist abound in all the works whichformthe stable core of Americanliterary criticism at this time. . "in both my teaching and my of American in literature as a reflection research I had a special interest life and thought.This circumstancemay explain in part why I found it of the expatriatesand why I was slow in difficult to appreciatethe merits doingjustice to some of the New Critics. contain ofAmeriintoa theory fitted be conveniently throw outPoe becausehe cannot . tojudgeMelville's Hawthorne's as an escapist to speakofHenry James ofBryant orofGreeley. To it maybe said. applicability and his work has particular Americannessis Lionel Trilling. to find personal to American lifeto be less response was . We probably share Trilling'saestheticjudgment.[Edith Wharton] likely of a dyingaristocracy" (1211). 19 Feb 2013 17:54:25 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions . Dreiser. I was repelled by the sordid subject matterfound in some of the novels writtenby Dreiser.1" Trilling'simmediatepurpose is to exclude Greeley and Bryantfromthe listof majorauthorsand to includePoe. Dos Passos. 335-36. noblethan that it is to in aesthetic Rather to be mistaken . and essenand from of viewof a limited thepoint examine without attention which are in somerespects ofreality thedocuments conception tially arrogant was andis. in Trilling's assesses I willcall theliterature which Trilling culture. permitted thegroup towhich they Thesetwo "mainstream. and his choiceof authors and notby accident-to be white. middle-class inthedominant situation-their membership aspectsoftheir from it-defined whiteAnglo-Saxon and their modestalienation group. For the moment. ofour drawfrom First. circular. rather their gender ofit.and hisessaysgavethesearch tradition forcultural essence a decidedand influential toward thenotion of cultural direction and succeededin getting ridof Bryant as some sortof tension." theyproduced. oftheconsensus. stated citedbelow) morethanwhatis overtly by Trilling (andothers thing for reasons is addedtoexclude What critics havedoneis toassume. however. enabling the"veryessenceof the tradictions" view. Trilling carrying of searching essence. One might likethiswhich think that an approach and in some sense nonliterary or even antiliterary wouldnothave had But clearly was simply on a longstanding mucheffect. middle-class.of Anglo-Saxon in thiscountry or at leastfrom an ancestry whichhad settled derivation ofthe themiddle which beganaround before thebigwavesofimmigration thedecisionmadeby these In everycase. middle-class. male. to one side of mento becomeprofessional authors pushedthem slightly them to Thisslight alienation belonged." so highly." He arguesthatParrington Cultheculture. them. represented invariably shortly thatthewomenwriters theconsensus. he dismisses notbase hisjudgment on aesthetic has tic judgment withthe word "merely. a "consensuscriticism butitmight notseemnecessarexcludes Thisidea plainly many groups were womenauthors ilyto excludewomen. Trilling outis stilldominant. overthevalueofliterature-it culture.constitute that. nineteenth century. notionof culturemore valid than ParBut what makes Trilling's he resorts to suchvalue-laden rington's? Trilling really has no argument.Melodramas of Beset Manhood 129 aesthegrounds. Second. 19 Feb 2013 17:54:25 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions .to assumethat thanthecriticism themfrom made thempartof the consensusin a way thatprevented inthecriticism. thedisagreement is overthenature this quotation. prearrogant conception ofreality" rhetoric as "a limited andessentially hisversion ofculture over objectively establish ciselybecausehe cannot conclusions to thereare two significant Parrington's. to be expounded. Theyall turn Greeley. indeed. the"conthemselves" to "contain within their them boundaries. works is Thepresence ofthesewomen andtheir partaking in literary andobstaand history as an impediment acknowledged theory This content downloaded on Tue. and yetnotto belong. pickedthewrong artists becausehe doesn'tunderstand tureis his realconcern." to theso-called belong.In fact.there is no disagreement testimony which provide "suggestive is valuedas a setof "documents" to whatAmerica was and is. anglo-Saxon overwhelmingly white.nineteenth-century and in Someorigin." is subjective. 130 American Quarterly cle. J. 19 Feb 2013 17:54:25 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions . 93. Brockden xii. The certainty herethatstories aboutwomencould notcontain theessenceof American culture meansthatthematter of American exis inherently perience male.But.Love and Death in the American Novel. W. hisstruggle for integrity and livelihood against flagrantly bad best-sellers written by women. he should cally. 13 Charles J.Personally besetina waythat epitomizes thetensions ofourculture. Novel (New York:Criterion Love and Death in theAmerican Leslie Fiedler. melodramatic novel withan improbable plot. thatwhichthe essential American literature had to criticize as its chief task. as we'll latersee. Reid(Kent. She has entered literary history as theenemy. and excesses of style thathave posed tremendous problems forall students of CharlesBrockden Brown. 12 Books. Krauseand S. "tales of melodramas devoured . This content downloaded on Tue.. KentStateUniv. So. they areproposing for ourserious consideration. Leslie Fiedlerdescribes as creators womenauthors of which"our bestfictionists" bad best-seller" the"flagrantly against -all and their for"theirintegrity male-have had to struggle livelihoods. ironically. I would encompassing suggest that thetheoretical modelofa story which maybecomethevehicle ofcultural essenceis: "a melodrama ofbesetmanhood. Sydney Wieland. The phrase"tales oftruth" is putinquotes by thecritics.Press. Thereyousee whathas happened to thewomanwriter. Brown. W.Ohio: ed. At the sametime.that professionally Americans had no greatappetite simply forseriousliterature in the early decades of the Republic-certainly of the sort withwhichthey nothing of beset womanhood."Thismelodramais presented in a fiction which.." like SusannaRowson'sCharlotte Templeand HannahFoster'sThe 13 Coquette." 12 to an edition of CharlesBrockden And. in America historito write is a story havedecided untoitself. 1960).Andthismakesithighly unlikely that American womenwouldwrite fiction suchexperience. in his livelyand influential book of 1960. the ubiquitous truth.KrauseandS.inconsistent characterizations. can be takenas representative oftheauthor's literary experience. as a candidate forintellectually engaging a highly literature. Reid write Sydney as follows: and belleslettres Whatit meant forBrownpersonally. as though to cast doubton theverynotion thata "melodramaof besetwomanhood" could be either trueor important.in a 1978reader'sintroduction Brown'sWieland.1978). by thisstrategy it becomespossibleto beginmajorAmerican fiction historically withmale rather thanfemale authors. themale author produces hismelodramatic testimony to ourculture's essence-so thetheory goes. This nonrealistic or antisocial aspect of American fiction is noted-as a fault-by Trillingin a 1947 essay. and otherslike them. The factis that American writers ofgenius havenotturned their minds to society. to intensify his essence and convey his experience in a way that ignoresdetails of an actual social milieu.'4 Withina few years after publication of Trilling's essay. a group of Americanists took its rather disapproving description of American novelists and found in this nonrealismor romanticismthe essentially Americanqualitytheyhad been seeking.. Lewis (1955). Poe and Melvillewerequiteapartfrom it.. They used sophisticatedNew Critical closereadingtechniquesto identify a mythof America which had nothing to do with the classical fictionist'stask of chronicling probable people in recognizable social situations. Morals." But. Symbolismand American Literatureby CharlesFeidelson(1953). a storyfreeto catch an essential. "Manners.and sufficientlylike each other. 206.Melodramas of Beset Manhood 131 Remember that the search for culturalessence demands a relatively uncircumstantial kind of fiction. 19 Feb 2013 17:54:25 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions . The myth narratesa confrontation of the Americanindividual.he goes ahead withthetask thatreallyinterests him-criticizingtheculturethrough its representative authors. He writes: The novelin America diverges from itsclassic[i. This content downloaded on Tue.Hawthorne was acutewhenhe insisted thathe did not write novelsbutromances-he thusexpressed his awareness of thelack of social texture in his work. thereality theysought was only tangential to society.. B.to compel assent to the pictureof Americanliterature that they presented. untrammeled by historyand social accident. British] intention which . Henry was aloneinknowing James to scale themoral that andaesthetic inthe heights novelone had to use theladderof socialobservation. ise offered by the idea of America. Hoffman(1961). These works. W. This search has identified a sort of nonrealistic narrative.The AmericanNovel and its Tradition by RichardChase (1957)." Curiously. and Form and Fable in American Fiction by Daniel G. idealized Americancharacter.The idea of essentialAmericanness thendeveloped in such influential works of criticism as Virgin Land by Henry Nash Smith (1950). the pure Americanselfdivorcedfrom withthepromspecificsocial circumstances. one whichconcentrates on nationaluniversals (if I may be pardoned the paradox).Trilling here attacksthe same groupof writers he had rescued fromParrington in "Reality in America. and the Novel. a romance...e. In America in thenineteenth century. is theinvestigation oftheproblem ofreality beginning inthesocialfield.. never doubtingthat his selectionrepresents "the" Americanauthors. This promiseis the deeply romantic one thatin this new land. a 14 The Liberal Imagination.were of sufficiently highcriticalquality.TheAmerican Adam byR. society it at anylength wouldbe a structive pressure on individuality.and thereis only one way to relateit to the individual-as an adversary. exerts an unmitigatedly decial and secondary to human nature. . that they existin ise is theassurance that individuals comebefore societiesin whichthey senseprior some meaningful to." to his capacity in history commensurate withsomething initsvarious fashionfamiliar with this ofAmerica We areall very myth thismyth tous as vision that haspresented ingsandowing totheselective besidesithas been ofus are unaware ofhowmuch thewholestory. his own destiny unhindered. In one anything is sense. The subjectof thismyth alikesharea for human andifmenandwomen to stand supposed nature. the last and manis "facetofacefor thelasttime dreams"where greatest ofall human forwonder.itspromises. and settlements and society becamemore wilderness. human thenall can respond common nature. or theevocation (Rabbit. notmadehisbreak bytheend terI ofWalden.the answeris no.thissupposedpromise bythetwentieth century has alwaysbeenknown tobe delusory. society. a wayto tella believaOne maybelieveall thisandyetlookinvainfor from society oroffer thepromise ble story that couldfree theprotagonist liveapart from ofsuchfreedom. a struggle as early as theearliest Leatherstocking onefinds against society ofAmerica tale (ThePioneers. thestruggle oftheindividual against morecentral to themyth. wilderness and the qualityof Americacomes to residein its unsettled totheindividual as themedium that sucha wilderness offers opportunities and his own on whichhe may inscribe. created byliterary Keeping ask whether about it puts it outsidewomen'sreach. .Yet. as something artifihappen to find themselves.. given morepossiblein reality or at wilderness.132 American Quarterly Behind thispromperson willbe able to achievecomplete self-definition. Certainly unenhopelessquestfor themyth has beentransmuted intoan avowedly for itsownsake cumbered offlight space (On theRoad). or as patheticacknowledg- thenarrator Nick ment ofloss-e. 19 Feb 2013 17:54:25 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions . nature.1823).Thoreaucouldleave in Chapwhere. spreadacrossthe As thenineteenth century woreon. The myth also holdsthat.g. and on one level. Thus it is thattheessential least morebelievablein literary treatment.In a sense. Huckleberry Finnhas still of Chapter XLII (theconclusion) of thebook thatbearshis name. thecloseofTheGreatGatsby where oncefor Dutch summons flowered Carraway up "theold islandherethat sailors' eyes-a fresh. theidea seemsless a fantasy. many we needto oureyeson thismyth. Americans. to itsvalues. This content downloaded on Tue. To depict waste of artistic time. becausenowhere on earth do individuals oflargetracts Butin America. Run and Henderson the Rain King). theoriginal reality of socialgroups. let's say.green breast of the new world . and apartfrom. for men.Andthissexualdefinition has melodramatic. since womenare entrusted by societywiththe task of rearing young children. constricting. ontothewoman thoseattractions To do it. destroying societyis represented with particular urgency in thefigure ofone or morewomen. Thereare severalpossible reasonswhythismight be so. givesurgency rejection ofsociety. It is true. (A Puritan his own sexual tion. Not until he reachesmid-adolescence does themaleconnect up but at aboutthis withothermaleswhose primary taskis socialization. and so he perceives thesocializing and domesticating woman as a doubly powerful threat."The myth requires celibacy. And alnotthe sourceof social power. locatedin theprotagonist or his gender per se. theproblem is withthe other participants in his story-the entrammelling society and thepromisinglandscape. one must selecta protagonist with a certain believable mobility.he must project thathe feels. misogynist implications.So from thepoint ofviewoftheyoung notencounter women anddomesticators. andmobility has until recently beena maleprerogative inoursociety.thatin order to represent somekindofbelievable flight wilderness. In these stories. for thisreason. indeed. 19 Feb 2013 17:54:25 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions .)As RichardChase writesin The AmericanNovel and its Tradi- This content downloaded on Tue. For heterosexual man. of self-discovery himfrom life'simportant snarehimand deflect purposes with communion wouldhave said: from and self-assertion. the encroaching. anin lifeseemsto be to enobstacle-a character whosemission tagonist.Melodramas of Beset Manhood 133 I find womenstudents reand its frustrations. theyoung do though notall women are engaged whoarenot. inthisregard. of time-ifhe is heterosexual-his loversand spousesbecometheagents a permanent women are socialization and domestication. because his deepest emotionalattachments are to Thisattraction and depth to theprotagonist's women.For bothof theseare depicted in unmistakably feminine which and thisgivesa sexualcharacter to theprotagonist's terms. second.thesesocializing womenare also thelocus of has socialandconventional attraction.and cast her in the melodramatic role of temptress.The problem is thus notto be for women than ous."It is partly against urges that themalemust struggle. It seemsto be a socialconvenfact oflife that we all-women andmenalike-experience tionsand responsibilities and obligations first in thepersonsof women. mobileto the extent deNevertheless. relatively fewmenare actually is really notmuch morevicarimanded and hencethestory bythestory.neither Coopernor"any other Divinity. theonly kind ofwomen whoexistareentrappers man. becauseeverybody powerful First. of sponsive to themyth insofar as itsprotagonist intothe course.theyare experienced in socializing theyoung.although as such. And in factas a teacher is concerned. story does. limit itsapplicability to women. Thus. instincts. Chase American novelist until goes on to state. is thefemale onlymadness ofPuritan temptress mythology. then. So Leslie Fiedler.134 American Quarterly theage ofJames and EdithWharton" couldimagine "a fully developed thisstatement. ifnotbasically incomprehensible.g. Fitzgerald's The Beautifuland The Damned. Such a portrayal ofwomen is likely to be uncongenial. Butthis for allofHawthorne's that theeternal means. Not theleast of these issueswas. Fiedlermakesit thenovelso highly a gender Giving specific reference. butalso. His characterization of Hesteras one or another or imagemakesit myth impossible for thenovelto be inanywayaboutHesteras a human being. Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls. Richard Chase. theherois propelled but attraction.and itis byno meansthecase that most novels sucha scheme.thedemands of society thathe linkhimself forlifeto a womanmakefora particularly misogynist version of thisaspectof the American for notbya rejected myth. Chase is talking womanof sexualage. (One should add that.) Both heterosexual and validatethe notionof myth cooperatewiththe hero's perceptions womanas threat. 1957). ofHenry and William James Dean Howellspose a continual challenge to themasculinist bias of American critical theory. This content downloaded on Tue. The novels In the rhetorical "us" Fiedlerpresumes thatall readersare men. and homosexual versions of the by truerevulsion. [Hester] and damnation.though sullied. . him wouldhavelured to evasion whileHester andflight.that the novel is an act of communication amongand about males. Cooper's Pathfinderand The Pioneers. 64. Andin one work-The ScarletLetter-a "fullydevelopedwomanof sexual age" who is the novel'sprotagonist has beenadmitted intothecanon. feminine does notdrawus on toward thatthewoman grace. writesthis of The Scarlet Letter: It is certainly true. precisely. 19 Feb 2013 17:54:25 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions .butonlyby virtue ofstrenuous critical revisions ofthetext that remove HesterPrynne from thecenter ofthenovelandmakehersubordinate to Arthur Dimmesdale..for a homosexual male. to a woman. thesecular madonna ofsentimental Protestantism (236).sincehe has produced thiswarpedreading.It is not likelythatwomenwill write booksin which women playthispart. 15 55." 15 Yet in making about his mythratherthan Cooper's. The Scarlet goes on to condemn the novel forits sexual immaturity. thehuman of a woman'stale. Even major male menreproduce byAmerican authors in the canon have otherways of depicting prominent women.inLove and Death in theAmericanNovel.rather promises . The American Novel and its Tradition(New York: Anchor. in terms oftheplot. . equivocations. e. reference Fiedler Amusingly.that Chillingworth drives theminister toward confession andpenance. tothe inaccessible to women andlimits itsreference to menincomparison issues thatHawthorne was treating in thestory. 1975). 19 Feb 2013 17:54:25 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions . them in the melodrama of beset and impediment So the role of entrapper forwomen. then imposes on nature some 16 AnnetteKolodny. EllenGlasgow.womenauthors as majorwriters are notably and inevitably absentfrom Fiedler'schronicle. theessenceof our culture.as his treatment shows. Anna Leath in Wharton's The Reef. and so we don'tfind in thecanon. beingread as a woman'sversion of the myth. frustration Stories offemale are notperceived as commenting on. landscapeis compliant and supportive. Recently.16She theorizes thatthehero.and Henry Nash Smith's Virgin Land picksup a timeless archetype in its title.Also.Hesteris beset by the male reigning and by oligarchyDimmesdale.asksthehero.The melodrama here is not Hawthorne's. it followsnaturally thatthe socializerand domesticator willbe a man. When a woman takes the centralrole. Of course. as societyis.The basic nature of the imageleads one to forget aboutits forimbuing potential in which anystory itis used with sexualmeanings. and the genderimplications of a femalelandscapehave onlyrecently begunto be studied. such novelsare read as stories ofthefrustration offemale nature. or containing. Dorinda in Glasgow's Barren Ground. Landscape is deeplyimbuedwithfemalequalities.theattractive landscape. childbearing. Annette Kolodnyhas studied the traditionalcanonfrom thisapproach. but where is menacing society and destructive. domesticity. he holds womenresponsible for.Melodramas of Beset Manhood 135 Letter is integrated intoFiedler's oftheinadequacies of general exposure the American of Hester male-inadequacies which.as do requires) many heroines in versions ofthismyth Thea in Cather's The by women: Song of the Lark. what can it giveme? Ofcourse. whopassively tempts herandis responsible forfathering her child.fleeing a that society has beenimagined as feminine. This content downloaded on Tue. but Fiedler's-the American of beset critic'smelodrama manhood. and WillaCather-project a version oftheparticular myth we are speaking ofbutcast themaincharacter as a woman. This is the situation in The ScarletLetter. itsfemale qualities are articulated with respect to a maleangleofvision: what can nature do for me. Hester(as the myth elects celibacy. theroleofthebeckoning wilderis reserved manhood ness.whichrequiremarriage. The Lay of the Land (Chapel Hill: Univ. is givena deeplyfeminine quality. In factmany booksbywomen-including suchmajor authors as Edith Wharton. of North Carolina Press.nature has beenfeminine and maternal from time immemorial. It has the attributes simultaneously of a virginal brideand a nonthreatening mother.Thereafter. But whatis written in the criticism about these celibatewomen?Theyare said to be untrue to theimperatives of their Insteadof gender. WillaCatherseemsto do in 0 Pioneers!But a American does notfittheessential landscapeor a malenature violated occurin these and hence images as critics defined literary have pattern it. the fictional and own experience their fit between land. can be treated Two remaining points which whenthecritic and oftheact ofwriting emerges tionoftheartist This content downloaded on Tue. experience. 19 Feb 2013 17:54:25 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions . with concerned infantile. as sweetheart turn to nature myth ofAmerican heroes which among herandincluding through ofalldesires thesatisfaction anticipating captures passagethat andpower.The lackof virgin thanin the in thesecondinstance roleassignedto themis even greater will it notbe in mothers brides or as If women themselves portray first. as antagonists to castthemselves are notlikely I have saidthat women as themselves to cast I suggest. stoodto be writing The descripmuchmorebriefly. female resonance oftheimage-she is likely or violation. given to time mustfrom nature-as she certainly to write ofitas more active." Whenthewomanwriter forwhatit is it is not recognized to theexpectedmyth.A familiar formastery thesethedesires evocationof the "fresh theseideas is one alreadyquoted:Carraway's that is thevirginity greenness breast"ofthenewworld. But ifshe does notconform ingin criticism. she is underto themyth. one acceptsall theFreudbride.The trueadversary.) minor or trivial literature. On the otherhand. entertain It is possiblethatsome of withwhichtheyimbueit to be superfluous. they areevenless likely.Ifa woman ofthemythic terms archetypal the time. (Needlessto say.she might or to stressits destruction out to be nature to herown psycheby making adjustthe heroicmyth male-as. as itwere. real-life thealland totalgratification: power.136 American Quarterly of influence subjectto thecorrecting no longer ideas of womenwhich. an obscurity thatcriticism cannotsee.one has an almostclassic createsa story exampleof the "doublebind. satisfy Daisy's skirts. forexample.he dreamof a maternal Carrawayevokes the impossible to woman. on construction a female puts landscape.butthebreastpromises offers The Great Gatsbycontainsour two imagesof women:while delight.the socialiteDaisy. manymalenovelists bias the masculinist and do notfind thisversion of themyth. thatconforms as it is enterin themyth sexualspecialization because of a superfluous also tainedin thecritics'minds. ina man'sstory. thosewho writein an era in whichliterary especially these novelists. Whether theall-passive mother. Thus.The fresh green solace and maternal itself to the sailors. landscape. are The fantasies becomemoreand morefantastic. nurturing denythewayin one cannot ofherargument.behind nan. forher failure blames a nonmaternal of course.buthe is hidden. readis a powerful haveformed their ideasfrom their criticism influence. implications ian or Jungian andnurture.is Tom BuchaGatsby'sdesires.mastery. .. the artistwriting his narrative is imitating the mythic encounterof hero and possibility in the safe confines of his study. Theoriesof AmericanLiterature 18 This content downloaded on Tue. Chase.one mightsee thatmythic encounterof hero and possibility as a projectionof the artist'ssituation. and others like them.This descriptionraises the exclusion of women to a more abstract. metaphors as thoughthe writer were a hero in the landscape: "The American novel has usually seemed contentto explore . the remarkableand in some ways unexampledterritories of lifein theNew Worldand to reflect itsanomalies and dilemmas.. 5. limitlessopportunity or an enormousvasuggesting For some it has meantan opporcancy in whichtheycreate from nothing. are summed up in an anthologycalled Theories of American Literature. 5. . The ideas of Poirierand Chase."It is as ifwitheach new work our writers feel theymustinventagain the completeworld of a literary form. to discovera new place and a new state of mind. wanted . 9. Griffith.A WorldElsewhere.butwhatthe criticsthink they feel.it has a history. 19 Feb 2013 17:54:25 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions .. Griffith. In effect. thetruesubject is notwhatthewriters feel. with the environment [the novelist]tries to create for his hero. .or. 19Donald M.. Poirier.Melodramas of Beset Manhood 137 uses the basic American storyas his starting point contains many attributes of the basic storyitself. Kartiganerand Malcolm A. . economics. Here. forexample.. freethem from thepressures oftime.."17 Richard Poiriertakes the idea further: Themost booksarean image interesting American ofthecreation ofAmerica itself.. Althoughthis idea is greatlyin vogue at the moment." (Yet. .19 The editorswrite. TheclassicAmerican writers try through style to free temporarily thehero(andthereader) from to systems. 1962). 17 (New York:Macmillan.is RichardChase representing the activity of writing in of discoveryand exploration.. to do .. Fundamentally. The implicit unionof creatorand protagonist is made specificand overt at the end of Poirier's passage here. The strangeness ofAmerican fiction has . usually his 18 surrogate...theoretical-and perhaps more perniciouslevel. reversing the temporalorder. 3. and from thesocial which forces are ultimately theundoing ofAmerican of heroesand quiteoften their creators... biology.edited by Donald M. Kartiganerand Malcolm A..) "Such a condition of nearly absolute freedomto create has apan utteropenness peared to our authorsboth as possibilityand liability.It has .the idea is that the artistwriting a storyof this essential American kind is engagingin a task very much like the one performed by his mythic hero. eds. forthe imagination. Theycarry themetaphoric burden ofa great dream offreedom-of theexpansion ofnational consciousness into thevastspacesofa continent and theabsorption ofthosespacesinto ourselves. American Novel.. or she is thecreator ofconventional thespokesperson ofsociety. Home as Found (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Univ. . insofar writes According about a character who is his surrogate-which. or.138 American Quarterly to playAdam. a 1979book entitled Homeas FoundbyEricSundquist. oftheAmerican as a metaphor for myth the American artist's situation. We can scarcely a good deal about." gender-restrictions of thattranslation to thisformulation. all thegender-based imposeson artistic creation restrictions thatwe have already in thatmyth. ." . The theme offathers foundly by. moreprecisely the informal of his novel. is central to thecrisisof representation. American a bizarre pationor identification. works. Herrolesinthedrama ofcreation arethose allotted to herina malemelodrama: either sheis to be silent. 19 Feb 2013 17:54:25 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions . . Press. The struggle . .as anyreader critical for our theory is thefacile translation oftheverb"to author" purpose intotheverb"to withthe profound unacfather. does-he is trying to becomehis ownfather. 1979). xviii-xix. myth to the Adamiccreator of the andthereinterpretation story. have been particularly obsessedwith fathering a tradition of their own.There is no place fora woman author inthisscheme. as theauthor knowledged. This content downloaded on Tue. In recent years.20 These remarks deriveclearlyfrom the workof such critics as Harold ofrecent willnote. . examined The keyto idenan "Adamicwriter" tifying is theformal appearance. What shemight do as an innovator inherownright is nottobe perceived. likenature.to assumetheroleof an original tunity namer of experience" (4-5).and are prodenythatmenthink with affected and their fathers.some refinements of critical theory coming from the Yale andJohns Hopkins and Columbia schoolshaveaddeda newvariant to the idea of creation I quote from as a male province. One can see inthis passagethetransference oftheAmerican from the Adamicheroin the story. preted as a direct representation oftheopen-ended experience ofexploringand taming thewilderness.The point Bloom. The unconventionality is interappearance.relations 20 Eric Sundquist. as wellas a rejection of "society"as itis incorporated in conventional literary forms. authors act of selffathering. Thismyth ofartistic creation. that allowsAmerican authors tofind intheir ownfantasies andto makeofthosefantasies a compelling and thoseofa nation instructive literature. andhenceofstyle. The author takestheideathat inwriting a noveltheartist is really writing a narrative abouthimself and thisaddition: proposes a narrative aboutoneself an extremity ofOedipalusurWriting mayrepresent . assimilating theact ofwriting novelsto the Adamicmyth. he always apparently.with becoming their "own sires. ironicouldbe further as cally. 19 Feb 2013 17:54:25 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions . critics itbycreating a tool have "deconstructed" with no particular In pursuit oftheuniquely AmeriAmerican reference.Mrs. The theory of American fiction has boileddownto thephrasein mytitle:a melodrama ofbesetmanhood. Gaskell." JaneAusten. Andso is EdwardSaid's bookBeginBritish nings.all threeBrontesisters. In that is no needto confine itto American authors.nothing removed from Trilling's idea oftheartist embodiment ofa culture. Certainly. Thisobservation points upjusthowsignifin theact ofcreatingliterature. sons is perennial Somewhatmore spaciously.Ifliterature theattempt tofather oneself bytheauthor. linkhas found it outand broken thechain."And thereis some inmost cultures gender-specific significance involved sinceauthority that inadult we know tends tobe invested males. then. literature. written by bothwomenand men!And. Since this particular theoryof the act of writing is drawnfrom it psychological assumptions that are notspecific to American literature.And. usually perceived from thepoint ofviewoftheyoung. then every act ofwriting bya womanis bothperverse and absurd. What a reduction this is oftheenormous variety of fiction in thiscountry. havearrived at a place where into can. The result approach to British that recasts itintheaccepted oftheAmerican image myth.ofcourse. one concludes that inpushing thetheory ofAmerican fiction to thisextreme. This content downloaded on Tue.it is boundto fail. icantly thecritic is engaged Ironically. Humphrey Ward-not a signofa woman author is found inhistreatment ofVictorian is a revisionist fiction fiction. As in theworking itsweakest outofall theories.whichchronicles the history of the nineteenth-century novelas exemplification His discussion omits ofwhathe calls"filiation. thisidea involves thequestion ofauthority. GeorgeEliot. and "auis a notion thority" related to thatof "the author. HaroldBloom'sAnxiety ofInfluence. we recognize that intergenerational conflict. theorists have seized upona theory women less andless presence. Mrs. especially inegalitarian cultures. Ironically. is a recurrent literary theme.Melodramas of Beset Manhood 139 in worldliterature. maybe argued there fact.Butthetheory hasbuilt from to a theseuseful andtrue observations to a restriction ofliterary creation sortoftherapeutic is act that can onlybe performed bymen. they Americanness has vanished thedepths ofwhatis allegedto be theuniversal malepsyche. defining literature as a struggle between fathers and sons. just at thetime that critics moreand moreimportant feminist are discovering thecritical thatallowsthe women. or the struggle of sons to escape from their is aboutBritish fathers.