| The Morgesons Contributor(s): Stoddard, Elizabeth (Author), Buell, Lawrence (Introduction by), Zagarell, Sandra (Introduction by) |
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ISBN: 0140436510 ISBN-13: 9780140436518 Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group OUR PRICE: $17.10 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: September 1997 Annotation: Elizabeth Stoddard's revolutionary novel explores the conflict between a woman's instinct, passion, and will, and the social taboos, family allegiances, and traditional New England restraint that inhibit her. Set in a small seaport town, The Morgesons (1862) is the dramatic story of Cassandra Morgeson's fight against social and religious norms in a quest for sexual, spiritual, and economic autonomy. A female bildungsroman that embodies the convergence of the melodrama and sexual undercurrents of gothic romance and Victorian social realism, The Morgesons marks an important transition in the development of the novel and evoked comparisons during Stoddard's lifetime with such masters as Balzac, Tolstoy, Eliot, the Brontes, and Hawthorne. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Fiction | Classics - Fiction | Literary |
| Dewey: FIC |
| LCCN: 97021263 |
| Lexile Measure: 960 |
| Series: Penguin Classics |
| Physical Information: 0.8" H x 5.1" W x 7.7" (0.55 lbs) 304 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Elizabeth Stoddard combines the narrative style of the popular nineteenth-century male-centered bildungsroman with the conventions of women's romantic fiction in this revolutionary exploration of the conflict between a woman's instinct, passion, and will, and the social taboos, family allegiances, and traditional New England restraint that inhibit her. Set in a small seaport town (1862), The Morgesons is the dramatic story of Cassandra Morgeson's fight against social and religious norms in a quest for sexual, spiritual, and economic autonomy. An indomitable heroine, Cassandra not only achieves an equal and complete love with her husband and ownership of her family's property, but also masters the skills and accomplishments expected of women. Counterpointed with the stultified lives of her aunt, mother, and sister, Cassandra's success is a striking and radical affirmation of women's power to shape their own destinies. Embodying the convergence of the melodrama and sexual undercurrents of gothic romance and Victorian social realism, The Morgesons marks an important transition in the development of the novel and evoked comparisons during Stoddard's lifetime with such masters as Balzac, Tolstoy, Eliot, the Brontes, and Hawthorne. |