Cato′s Tears & the Making of Anglo–American Emotion (Paper) - Softcover

Ellison, Julie

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0226205967 ISBN 13: 9780226205960

Publisher: University of Chicago Press, 2000

Synopsis

How did the public expression of feeling become central to political culture in England and the United States? In this revisionist account of a much expanded "Age of Sensibility", Julie Ellison traces the evolution of the politics of emotion on both sides of the Atlantic from the late-17th to the early-19th century. Early popular dramas of this time, Ellison shows, linked male stoicism with sentimentality through portrayals of stoic figures whose civic sacrifices bring other men to tears. Later works develop a different model of sensibility, drawing their objects of sympathy from other races and classes - Native Americans, African slaves and servants. Only by examining these texts in light of the complex masculine tradition of stoic sentimentality, Ellison argues, can one interpret women's roles in the culture of sensibility. In her conclusion, Ellison offers "a short history of liberal guilt," exploring the enduring link between male stoicism and male sensibility in political and cultural life from the late-17th century to the end of the 20th century.

About this edition

• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0226205967
• ISBN 13: 9780226205960
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 216