
Stirring the Pot
The Kitchen and Domesticity in the Fiction of Southern Women
Laura Sloan Patterson(Author)
McFarland & Co Inc (Publisher)
Published on 20. October 2008
Book
Paperback/Softback
240 pages
978-0-7864-3523-4 (ISBN)
Description
The term "domesticity" may bring to mind cooking, cleaning, and tranquil evenings at home. During the last few decades, however, American domesticity has become ever more politicized as third-wave feminists, conservative critics, and others debate the very meaning of home and family. Despite this new wave of debate, the home, particularly the kitchen, is comfortable territory for the consolidation of issues of gender, space, marketplace, community, and technology in twentieth century literature.
This work looks closely at a wide variety of southern domestic literature, focusing particularly on the role of the family kitchen as a driving force in the narratives of Ellen Glasgow, Eudora Welty, Lee Smith, and Toni Morrison. Topics include the overtones of isolation and the almost claustrophobic third-person narration of Glasgow's Virginia and Life and Gabriella; the communal kitchen and its role in defining the sexual discourse of Welty's Delta Wedding; the unification of national railway lines and its consequences for the traditional Appalachian kitchen in Smith's Oral History and Fair and Tender Ladies; and the lasting effects of slavery on the "haunted domesticity" of the African-American kitchen in Morrison's Jazz, Paradise, and Love.
This work looks closely at a wide variety of southern domestic literature, focusing particularly on the role of the family kitchen as a driving force in the narratives of Ellen Glasgow, Eudora Welty, Lee Smith, and Toni Morrison. Topics include the overtones of isolation and the almost claustrophobic third-person narration of Glasgow's Virginia and Life and Gabriella; the communal kitchen and its role in defining the sexual discourse of Welty's Delta Wedding; the unification of national railway lines and its consequences for the traditional Appalachian kitchen in Smith's Oral History and Fair and Tender Ladies; and the lasting effects of slavery on the "haunted domesticity" of the African-American kitchen in Morrison's Jazz, Paradise, and Love.
Reviews / Votes
"recommended"-Choice.More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Jefferson, NC
United States
Target group
Interest Age: From 18 years
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
notes, bibliography, index
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 14 mm
Weight
399 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-7864-3523-4 (9780786435234)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Laura Sloan Patterson is an associate professor of English at Seton Hill University, where she teaches American and southern literature and directs the undergraduate writing program. She lives in western Pennsylvania.
Content
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Preface
ONE. From Courtship to Kitchen Radical Domesticity in Twentieth-Century Southern Women's Fiction
TWO. Ellen Glasgow's "Sacred Inner Circle" of Domestic Isolation
THREE. Sexing The Domestic Eudora Welty's Delta Wedding and the Sexology Movement
FOUR. Trains, Letters, and Pickled Peppers Lee Smith and the Effect of Railway Unification on Appalachian Domesticity
FIVE. "No Place Like and No Place but Home" Domestic Resistance in Toni Morrison's Paradise, Jazz and Love
SIX. Betty Crocker, Betty Friedan, and the Techno-Southern Belles Reading the Online Kitchen
Afterword
Chapter Notes
Works Cited
Index
Acknowledgments
Preface
ONE. From Courtship to Kitchen Radical Domesticity in Twentieth-Century Southern Women's Fiction
TWO. Ellen Glasgow's "Sacred Inner Circle" of Domestic Isolation
THREE. Sexing The Domestic Eudora Welty's Delta Wedding and the Sexology Movement
FOUR. Trains, Letters, and Pickled Peppers Lee Smith and the Effect of Railway Unification on Appalachian Domesticity
FIVE. "No Place Like and No Place but Home" Domestic Resistance in Toni Morrison's Paradise, Jazz and Love
SIX. Betty Crocker, Betty Friedan, and the Techno-Southern Belles Reading the Online Kitchen
Afterword
Chapter Notes
Works Cited
Index