Publisher's Synopsis
Since the late 1970s, the grief of women who experienced miscarriage, stillbirth, or the death of an infant has been an increasingly visible topic in mainstream American publications. Wendy Simonds and Barbara Katz Rothman look to 19th-century women's magazines and later to confession magazines to explore the antecedents of modern writings on maternal grief and the information they convey about women from each time period. This is the first book that analyzes popular consolation literature as it changed over two centuries. The authors include a large selection of the writings that they view as social records that recognize and legitimize women's experience.
Women's magazines of the last century, such as Godey's Lady's Book and Petersen's, ran numerous poems, stories, and essays in which middle-class women writers shared their grief through symbolic language and Christian evangelism. Expressions of maternal grief vanished from mainstream publications as they became increasingly secularized but reappeared in the early 20th century in True Story, the first "pulp" confessional. Marketed to working-class women, these stories and the numerous letters from readers printed in each issue attest to a community of women trying to help each other through difficult life experiences.
As women gain power in the "public" world, maternal grief is again a valid subject for mass market magazines. Modern publications, such as Glamour magazine, urge contemporary readers to join self-help groups where they will find emotional catharsis and permission to grieve. Centuries of Solace makes possible a more complete understanding of the changing social meaning of motherhood in America. Author note:
Wendy Simonds is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Emory University.
Barbara Katz Rothman is Professor of Sociology at Baruch College and the Graduate Center, City University of New York.
