Tragic Victims of Mania a Potu (“Madness from Drink”): A Study of Literary Nineteenth-Century Female Drunkards

Temperance literature, though widely popular in America and Britain between 1830–80, lost its allure in the decades that followed. In spite of its didactic and moralistic nature, the public eagerly consumed temperance novels, thus reciprocating contemporaneous writers’ efforts to promote social idea...

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Autor principal:	Irina Rabinovich
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Lodz University Press 2021
Materias:	female inebriation temperance social antagonism patriarchy sensational prose Literature (General) PN1-6790
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/d3be6367f38942c9bab1b8510a41be6c
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id	oai:doaj.org-article:d3be6367f38942c9bab1b8510a41be6c
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:d3be6367f38942c9bab1b8510a41be6c2021-12-01T06:51:57ZTragic Victims of Mania a Potu (“Madness from Drink”): A Study of Literary Nineteenth-Century Female Drunkards2083-29312084-574X10.18778/2083-2931.11.19https://doaj.org/article/d3be6367f38942c9bab1b8510a41be6c2021-11-01T00:00:00Zhttps://czasopisma.uni.lodz.pl/textmatters/article/view/11274https://doaj.org/toc/2083-2931https://doaj.org/toc/2084-574XTemperance literature, though widely popular in America and Britain between 1830–80, lost its allure in the decades that followed. In spite of its didactic and moralistic nature, the public eagerly consumed temperance novels, thus reciprocating contemporaneous writers’ efforts to promote social ideals and mend social ills. The main aim of this paper is to redress the critical neglect that the temperance prose written by women about women has endured by looking at three literary works—two novellas and one confessional novelette—written by mid-nineteenth-century American female writers. These works serve as a prism through which the authors present generally “tabooed” afflictions such as inebriation among high-class women and society’s role in perpetuating such behaviors. The essay examines the conflicting forces underlying such representations and offers an inquiry into the restrictive and hostile social climate in mid-nineteenth-century America and the lack of medical attention given to alcohol addicts as the possible causes that might have prompted women’s dangerous behaviors, including inebriation. This paper also demonstrates the cautious approach that nineteenth-century female writers had to take when dealing with prevalent social ills, such as bigotry, hypocrisy and disdain directed at female drunkards. It shows how these writers, often sneered at or belittled by critics and editors, had to maneuver very carefully between the contending forces of openly critiquing social mores, on the one hand, and not being censored, on the other.Irina RabinovichLodz University Pressarticlefemale inebriationtemperancesocial antagonismpatriarchysensational proseLiterature (General)PN1-6790ENText Matters, Iss 11, Pp 299-318 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	female inebriation temperance social antagonism patriarchy sensational prose Literature (General) PN1-6790
spellingShingle	female inebriation temperance social antagonism patriarchy sensational prose Literature (General) PN1-6790 Irina Rabinovich Tragic Victims of Mania a Potu (“Madness from Drink”): A Study of Literary Nineteenth-Century Female Drunkards
description	Temperance literature, though widely popular in America and Britain between 1830–80, lost its allure in the decades that followed. In spite of its didactic and moralistic nature, the public eagerly consumed temperance novels, thus reciprocating contemporaneous writers’ efforts to promote social ideals and mend social ills. The main aim of this paper is to redress the critical neglect that the temperance prose written by women about women has endured by looking at three literary works—two novellas and one confessional novelette—written by mid-nineteenth-century American female writers. These works serve as a prism through which the authors present generally “tabooed” afflictions such as inebriation among high-class women and society’s role in perpetuating such behaviors. The essay examines the conflicting forces underlying such representations and offers an inquiry into the restrictive and hostile social climate in mid-nineteenth-century America and the lack of medical attention given to alcohol addicts as the possible causes that might have prompted women’s dangerous behaviors, including inebriation. This paper also demonstrates the cautious approach that nineteenth-century female writers had to take when dealing with prevalent social ills, such as bigotry, hypocrisy and disdain directed at female drunkards. It shows how these writers, often sneered at or belittled by critics and editors, had to maneuver very carefully between the contending forces of openly critiquing social mores, on the one hand, and not being censored, on the other.
format	article
author	Irina Rabinovich
author_facet	Irina Rabinovich
author_sort	Irina Rabinovich
title	Tragic Victims of Mania a Potu (“Madness from Drink”): A Study of Literary Nineteenth-Century Female Drunkards
title_short	Tragic Victims of Mania a Potu (“Madness from Drink”): A Study of Literary Nineteenth-Century Female Drunkards
title_full	Tragic Victims of Mania a Potu (“Madness from Drink”): A Study of Literary Nineteenth-Century Female Drunkards
title_fullStr	Tragic Victims of Mania a Potu (“Madness from Drink”): A Study of Literary Nineteenth-Century Female Drunkards
title_full_unstemmed	Tragic Victims of Mania a Potu (“Madness from Drink”): A Study of Literary Nineteenth-Century Female Drunkards
title_sort	tragic victims of mania a potu (“madness from drink”): a study of literary nineteenth-century female drunkards
publisher	Lodz University Press
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/d3be6367f38942c9bab1b8510a41be6c
work_keys_str_mv	AT irinarabinovich tragicvictimsofmaniaapotumadnessfromdrinkastudyofliterarynineteenthcenturyfemaledrunkards
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Tragic Victims of Mania a Potu (“Madness from Drink”): A Study of Literary Nineteenth-Century Female Drunkards

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