Love and the working class the inner worlds of 19th century Americans / Karen Lystra.
| Author/creator | Lystra, Karen |
| Other author | Oxford University Press. |
| Format | Electronic |
| Publication Info | New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2024] |
| Description | 348 pages ; 24 cm |
| Supplemental Content | Full text available from Oxford Scholarship Online |
| Subjects |
| Contents | "Please excuse all mistakes": letter-writing, shame, and social connection -- Working-class Americans choose a mate: nonromantic courtship and tribal intimacy -- The love continuum: understanding romantic and nonromantic attachment -- Sex talk, humor, and fear of ridicule: desire and self-protection -- Love to all inquiring friends: sustaining communal ties in nonromantic marriage -- Fighting to stay together: unhappy spouses and their struggles -- Roses are red/violets are blue: emotional history in rhyme -- Imagining the eternal village: death, longing, and loss. |
| Abstract | "Based on over 5,000 letters written by both black and white working-class Americans in the period 1830-1880, Love and the Working Class features the personal expression of ordinary Americans as they find a mate, joke or boast about sex, argue with their spouse, and express their feelings of attachment in both prose and poetry. Most of the letter-writers had no more than a third or fourth grade education and some of them were illiterate. Yet they or their scribe took pen and pencil in hand, often sounding out words as they wrote. Readers can 'hear' them speak to each other as they expressed their sense of intimacy within the collective relationships of their local community or tribe. Their sense of community included an almost universally accepted yet unspoken demand for racial homogeneity in courtship and marriage. Love and the Working Class makes an innovative and distinctive contribution to the history of emotions as well as American social and cultural history. The focus on courtship and marriage includes an original analysis of nonromantic love. Poetry, letter-writing, and the range of emotions surrounding death are also featured. Working-class feelings are interpreted in response to a wide-range of nineteenth-century experiences, including the Civil War. It is through the lens of personal letters that poor, unschooled Americans show us how they felt about love and how they created meaningful attachments in their uncertain lives"-- Provided by publisher. |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| Access restriction | Available only to authorized users. |
| Technical details | Mode of access: World Wide Web |
| Genre/form | Electronic books. |
| LCCN | 2023040351 |
| ISBN | 9780197514221 (hardback) |
| ISBN | (epub) |
Availability
| Library | Location | Call Number | Status | Item Actions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Electronic Resources | Access Content Online | ✔ Available |