{"product_id":"sentimental-materialism-gender-commodity-culture-and-nineteenth-century-american-literature-9780822325161","title":"Sentimental Materialism: Gender, Commodity Culture, and Nineteenth-Century American Literature","description":"In \u003ci\u003eSentimental Materialism\u003c\/i\u003e Lori Merish considers the intricate relationship between consumption and womanhood in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Taking as her starting point a diversity of cultural artifacts-from domestic fiction and philosophical treatises to advice literature and cigars-Merish explores the symbolic functions they served and finds that consumption evolved into a form of personal expressiveness that indicated not only a woman's wealth and taste but also her race, class, morality, and civic values. The discursive production of this new subjectivity-the feminine consumer-was remarkably influential, helping to shape American capitalism, culture, and nation building.\u003cp\u003eThe phenomenon of female consumption was capitalism's complement to male production: It created what Merish calls the \"Other Protestant Ethic,\"a feminine and sentimental counterpart to Max Weber's ethic of hard work, economic rationality, and self-control. In addition, driven by the culture's effort to civilize the \"cannibalistic\" practices of ethnic, class, and national otherness, appropriate female consumerism, marked by taste and refinement, identified certain women and their families as proper citizens of the United States. The public nature of consumption, however, had curiously conflicting effects: While the achievement of cultured material circumstances facilitated women's civic agency, it also reinforced stereotypes of domestic womanhood.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eSentimental Materialism\u003c\/i\u003e's inquiry into middle-class consumption and accompanying ideals of womanhood will appeal to readers in a variety of disciplines, including American studies, cultural studies, feminist theory, and cultural history.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Lori Merish\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Duke University Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 06\/08\/2000\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 400\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.34lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.25h x 5.89w x 1.05d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780822325161\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eChoice\u003c\/i\u003e 12\/01\/2000 pg. 708\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLori Merish is Assistant Professor of English at Georgetown University.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Duke University Press","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":40198557958259,"sku":"9.78E+12","price":34.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0555\/9255\/0515\/products\/img_afce878b-e45b-41a6-8a42-cfa6f88d971f.jpg?v=1656078702","url":"https:\/\/bookstorenmore.com\/products\/sentimental-materialism-gender-commodity-culture-and-nineteenth-century-american-literature-9780822325161","provider":"Bookstore N More","version":"1.0","type":"link"}