Patrons and Protegees

"Nine fresh views, by varied authors, of male-female friendships in 19th-century America. These are fascinating mini-biographies of such famous men and less famous women as Edgar Allan Poe and Frances Sargent Osgood, Walt Whitman and Fanny Fern, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Sherwood Bonner. Each essay breaks down the stereotypical view, accepted by generations of scholars, that the woman was always 'less bright, less talented, a protZgZe, a lovesick lady.' . . . An important . . . contribution to the reintroduction of works by women into the canon of American literature."ÐÐKirkus Reviews "Of the many books that currently invite us to reassess the literary history of nineteenth-century America this is among the most provocative in the problems it poses and the revision it achieves. The author's use of gender as a category of analysis produces responsible, revealing, and sometimes startling results, collectively providing a widereaching model for further reassessments of this kind."ÐÐAmerican Literature "[Explores] mentorial relationships to see how they functioned, what form the assistance took, what it meant to be a protZgZe, what the gains and losses were for both and what happened if and when the protZgZe broke away."ÐÐWomen's Review of Books