Performing Womanhood: Fictions of Love in Louisa May Alcott’s Behind a Mask
This article discusses Louisa May Alcott’s novella Behind a Mask in the light of Melville’s last novel, The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade (1857), arguing that, behind the mask of a sentimental novel that appears to conform to stereotypes, Alcott depicts a true-to-life heroine and shows how fiction...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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European Association for American Studies
2022-10-01
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| Series: | European Journal of American Studies |
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| Online Access: | https://journals.openedition.org/ejas/18542 |
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| author | Stéphanie Durrans |
| author_facet | Stéphanie Durrans |
| author_sort | Stéphanie Durrans |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This article discusses Louisa May Alcott’s novella Behind a Mask in the light of Melville’s last novel, The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade (1857), arguing that, behind the mask of a sentimental novel that appears to conform to stereotypes, Alcott depicts a true-to-life heroine and shows how fiction can actually uncover the truth of life, how the many parts we play obfuscate our deeper nature and how a woman’s life in particular is nothing but a continuous performance on the social stage. In Behind a Mask, Alcott subtly reinstates “a woman’s power” (its subtitle) over and against a male-dominated novel and a male-dominated society. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-77b4c711e7574d5e9117851aac7153bc |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1991-9336 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2022-10-01 |
| publisher | European Association for American Studies |
| record_format | Article |
| series | European Journal of American Studies |
| spelling | doaj-art-77b4c711e7574d5e9117851aac7153bc2025-01-06T09:08:28ZengEuropean Association for American StudiesEuropean Journal of American Studies1991-93362022-10-0117310.4000/ejas.18542Performing Womanhood: Fictions of Love in Louisa May Alcott’s Behind a MaskStéphanie DurransThis article discusses Louisa May Alcott’s novella Behind a Mask in the light of Melville’s last novel, The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade (1857), arguing that, behind the mask of a sentimental novel that appears to conform to stereotypes, Alcott depicts a true-to-life heroine and shows how fiction can actually uncover the truth of life, how the many parts we play obfuscate our deeper nature and how a woman’s life in particular is nothing but a continuous performance on the social stage. In Behind a Mask, Alcott subtly reinstates “a woman’s power” (its subtitle) over and against a male-dominated novel and a male-dominated society.https://journals.openedition.org/ejas/18542Herman MelvilleperformanceLouisa May AlcottmasquerademetamorphosisBehind a Mask |
| spellingShingle | Stéphanie Durrans Performing Womanhood: Fictions of Love in Louisa May Alcott’s Behind a Mask European Journal of American Studies Herman Melville performance Louisa May Alcott masquerade metamorphosis Behind a Mask |
| title | Performing Womanhood: Fictions of Love in Louisa May Alcott’s Behind a Mask |
| title_full | Performing Womanhood: Fictions of Love in Louisa May Alcott’s Behind a Mask |
| title_fullStr | Performing Womanhood: Fictions of Love in Louisa May Alcott’s Behind a Mask |
| title_full_unstemmed | Performing Womanhood: Fictions of Love in Louisa May Alcott’s Behind a Mask |
| title_short | Performing Womanhood: Fictions of Love in Louisa May Alcott’s Behind a Mask |
| title_sort | performing womanhood fictions of love in louisa may alcott s behind a mask |
| topic | Herman Melville performance Louisa May Alcott masquerade metamorphosis Behind a Mask |
| url | https://journals.openedition.org/ejas/18542 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT stephaniedurrans performingwomanhoodfictionsofloveinlouisamayalcottsbehindamask |