Private Woman, Public Stage: Literary Domesticity in Nineteenth-Century America

by Mary Kelley

Looks at the careers of twelve bestselling women novelists and discusses how they resolved the conflict between their fame and the socially acceptable feminine roles of the time

Genres: History, Nonfiction

430 pages, Paperback

First published February 23, 1984

Reviews

[Jacqueline]

Mary Kelley investigates the history of women writers and why she learned so little about their role in literature while seeking her bachelor’s degree. Private Woman, Public Stage discusses the literary careers of twelve female novelists against the cultural backdrop of nineteenth-century America: Mary Jane Holmes, Maria McIntosh, Mary Virginia Terhune, Maria Cummins, Caroline Howard Gilman, Caroline Lee Hentz, Sara Parton, Catharine Maria Sedgwick, E.D.E.N. Southworth, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Susan Warner, and Augusta Evans Wilson.

[Sue · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have been familiar with this book for ages but had never done more than just thumb through it. Now that I've finally read it, I would recommend it to anyone interested in nineteenth-century female writers.