Domestic Individualism: Imagining Self in Nineteenth-Century America

Gillian Brown's book probes the key relationship between domestic ideology and formulations of the self in nineteenth—century America. Arguing that domesticity institutes gender, class, and racial distinctions that govern masculine as well as feminine identity, Brown brilliantly alters, for literary critics, feminists, and cultural historians, the critical perspective from which nineteenth—century American literature and culture have been viewed.

In this study of the domestic constitution of...