Sentimental spectacles : the sentimental novel, natural language, and early film performance
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Date
2004-03
Authors
Hart, Hilary, 1969-
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Oregon
Abstract
The nineteenth-century American sentimental novel has only in the last twenty years received consideration from the academy as a legitimate literary tradition. During that time feminist scholars have argued that sentimental novels performed important cultural work and represent an important literary tradition. This dissertation contributes to the scholarship by placing the sentimental novel within a larger context of intellectual history as a tradition that draws upon theoretical sources and is a source itself for later cultural developments. In examining a variety of sentimental novels, I establish the moral sense philosophy as the theoretical basis of the sentimental novel's pathetic appeals and its theories of sociability and justice. The dissertation also addresses the aesthetic features of the sentimental novel and demonstrates again the tradition's connection to moral sense philosophy but within the context of the American elocution revolution. I look at natural language theory to render more legible the moments of emotional spectacle that are the signature of sentimental aesthetics. The second half of the dissertation demonstrates a connection between the sentimental novel and silent film. Both mediums rely on a common aesthetic storehouse for signifying emotions. The last two chapters of the dissertation compare silent film performance with emotional displays in the sentimental novel and in elocution and acting manuals. I also demonstrate that the films of D. W. Griffith, especially The Birth of a Nation, draw upon on the larger conventions of the sentimental novel.
Description
Advisor: Mary E. Wood.
xii, 181 leaves : ill. ; 29 cm. Print copy also available for check out and consultation in the University of Oregon's library under the call number: PS374.S714 H37 2004.
Keywords
Griffith, D. W. (David Wark), 1875-1948 -- Criticism and interpretation, Stowe, Harriet Beecher, 1811-1896 -- Criticism and interpretation, American fiction -- 19th century -- History and criticism, American literature -- Women authors -- History and criticism, Women and literature -- United States -- 19th century, Sentimentalism in literature, Rhetoric -- Study and teaching -- History, Speech -- Study and teaching -- History, Motion picture acting, Silent films -- United States -- History and criticism, Sympathy in literature, Emotion in literature, Race in literature