Family, Kinship, and Sympathy in nineteenth-century american literatureCindy Weinstein
Cambridge University Press, 2009
“Weinstein seems motivated not only by a genuine curiosity regarding the odd repetitions in so many of these sentimental novels--she reads with a keenly-tuned sensibility, picking up an astonishing number of echoing phrases and plot lines--but also by the desire for less hostile readings of sentimental fiction than we have seen lately.”
― Kristin Boudreau, The University of Georgia Studies in American Fiction
Family, Kinship, and Sympathy in Nineteenth-Century American Literature by Cindy Weinstein explores how nineteenth-century sentimental literature uses the concept of family to examine deeper social issues. Instead of simply promoting idealized notions of the family, Weinstein shows how these works often challenge traditional family structures, particularly through the disruption or destruction of biological families. She argues that the literature of this time uses love and sympathy, rather than blood ties, to suggest alternative forms of kinship. This allows for a critique of broader societal problems like slavery and domestic reform, offering a more nuanced view of how family and social relationships were understood and portrayed during the period.