In this Book
- Selections from Eliza Leslie
- Book
- 2011
- Published by: University of Nebraska Press
- Series: Legacies of Nineteenth-Century American Women Writers
summary
Best known for her culinary and domestic guides and the award-winning short story “Mrs. Washington Potts,” Eliza Leslie deserves a much more prominent place in contemporary literary discussions of the nineteenth century. Her writing, known for its overtly moralistic and didactic tones—though often presented with wit and humor—also provides contemporary readers with a nuanced perspective for understanding the diversity among American women in Leslie’s time.
Leslie’s writing serves as a commentary on gender ideals and consumerism; presents complicated constructions of racial, national, and class-based identities; and critiques literary genres such as the Gothic romance and the love letter. These criticisms are exposed through the juxtaposition of her fiction and nonfiction instructive texts, which range from lessons on literary conduct to needlework; from recipes for American and French culinary dishes to travel sketches; from songs to educational games. Demonstrating the complexity of choices available to women at the time, this volume enables readers to see how Leslie’s rhetoric and audience awareness facilitated her ability to appeal to a broad swath of the nineteenth-century reading public.
Table of Contents
Download Full Book
- Title Page
- p. iii
- Copyright Page
- pp. iv-vi
- Acknowledgments
- pp. ix-x
- Editor’s Introduction
- pp. xi-xxxvi
- A Note on the Text
- pp. xxxvii-xl
- Fiction
- The Travelling Tin-Man
- pp. 3-19
- Mrs. Washington Potts
- pp. 20-64
- The Settlers
- pp. 65-80
- Eliza Farnham, or The Love Letters
- pp. 81-114
- Nothing Morally Wrong
- pp. 188-228
- Nonfiction
- Domestic French Cookery: An Excerpt
- pp. 238-244
- The Elephant
- pp. 247-251
- Chronology of Eliza Leslie’s Published Works
- pp. 291-294
- Selected Bibliography
- pp. 295-320
Additional Information
ISBN
9780803238091
Related ISBN(s)
9780803232952
MARC Record
OCLC
797825921
Pages
368
Launched on MUSE
2012-07-25
Language
English
Open Access
No