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Archives of Desire: The Queer Historical Work of New England Regionalism
Press Copy:
In this thought-provoking study of nineteenth-century America, J. Samaine Lockwood offers an important new interpretation of the literary movement known as American regionalism. Lockwood argues that regionalism in New England was part of a widespread woman-dominated effort to rewrite history. Lockwood demonstrates that New England regionalism was an intellectual endeavor that overlapped with colonial revivalism and included fiction and history writing, antique collecting, colonial home restoration, and photography. The cohort of writers and artists leading this movement included Sarah Orne Jewett, Alice Morse Earle, and C. Alice Baker, and their project was taken up by women of a younger generation, such as Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Pauline Elizabeth Hopkins, who extended regionalism through the modernist moment.
Lockwood draws on a diverse archive that includes fiction, material culture, collecting guides, and more. Showing how these women intellectuals aligned themselves with a powerful legacy of social and cultural dissent, Lockwood reveals that New England regionalism performed queer historical work, placing unmarried women and their myriad desires at the center of both regional and national history.
In this thought-provoking study of nineteenth-century America, J. Samaine Lockwood offers an important new interpretation of the literary movement known as American regionalism. Lockwood argues that regionalism in New England was part of a widespread woman-dominated effort to rewrite history. Lockwood demonstrates that New England regionalism was an intellectual endeavor that overlapped with colonial revivalism and included fiction and history writing, antique collecting, colonial home restoration, and photography. The cohort of writers and artists leading this movement included Sarah Orne Jewett, Alice Morse Earle, and C. Alice Baker, and their project was taken up by women of a younger generation, such as Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Pauline Elizabeth Hopkins, who extended regionalism through the modernist moment.
Lockwood draws on a diverse archive that includes fiction, material culture, collecting guides, and more. Showing how these women intellectuals aligned themselves with a powerful legacy of social and cultural dissent, Lockwood reveals that New England regionalism performed queer historical work, placing unmarried women and their myriad desires at the center of both regional and national history.
- GenresHistory
240 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 2015
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
Want to read
March 28, 2020I was excited to find Archives of Desire on Hoopla. I gave it a go and read the Introduction, which was fascinating, but its a struggle for me to read some types of nonfiction in digital format. This academic monograph will have to wait until I can get my hands on a paper copy.
Shelved as 'dnf'
April 17, 2020I’m DNFing this because I’m out of my depth. I love the focus on queer, female historians. This is however a very academic book and hard to read as someone outside the field.
September 20, 2022
The writing was a bit stodgy at times, but this was a fascinating read.
Shelved as 'cataloged'
November 24, 2015Ordered 11/2015
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews