Self-study
P1
OPA ·
Jewett is a "domestic novelist"
Author’s Concession ·
Some similarities
focus on women; domestic occupations; social interactions; men relegated to periphery
Main Point / Critique ·
Major differences
Premise ·
No children or childrearing
Domestic novels revolve around children which are absent in Jewett's works.
Premise ·
Secular worldview
Domestic novels are religious whereas Jewett's works are secular.
P2
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Author's Anticipated Rebuttal ·
These differences could be attributable to historical changes
Meaning that Jewett may yet be a domestic novelist.
Concession / Premise ·
Jewett had a difference conception of nature and fiction
The historical factor may be part of the explanation but it's not the main explanation.
Premise ·
Domestic novels view fiction as part of a continuum
Fiction is connected to religious writing and domestic instruction. A novel could double as a child-rearing manual and a tract on Christian duty.
Premise ·
Jewett thinks of fiction as distinct
The point of fiction isn't to teach anything. It's "high-culture" and has value in and of itself.
P3
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Historical context ·
Fiction became "pure art"
Fiction's value is independent of social this or teaching that. This is like our modern conception of fiction: it's valuable in and of itself as art.
Main Point / Critique ·
Jewett is fundamentally different from domestic novelists
Because she viewed fiction as art.
Passage Style
Critique or debate
Spotlight
27.
The differing conceptions of fiction ████ ██ ██████ ███ ███ ████████ █████████ ███ ████ ██████████ ██ █████ ██ █████████ ██ ██████ ██ █████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ ██████████
a
Why was Jewett █████████ ██ ███████ ████████ ███ █████████ ██████ ██ ███████████ ██ ███ █████ ██ ███ ████████ █████████ ████████ ████ ██ ███████
“Unwilling” makes this wrong. We don’t know that Jewett was not willing to feature children and religious themes as much as other domestic novelists. She may have been just as willing, but chose not to make those features as prominent for artistic purposes.
b
Why did both ██████ ███ ███ ████████ █████████ █████ █████████ ██ █████ ██ ███████ ██ █████ █████████
The author doesn’t try to explain why Jewett focuses on rural instead of urban concerns.
c
Why was Jewett ███ ███████████ ██ ███████ ████████ ███ ████████ ██ ███████████ ██ ███ █████ ██ ████████ █████████ █████
The author tries to explain why Jewett wasn’t constrained to feature children and religion as prominently as other novelists were. Jewett’s conception of fiction as pure art meant she didn’t have to try to educate readers about domestic duties or religion. Other domestic novelists, because they conceived of fiction as having the purposes of acting as a child-rearing manual and tract on Christian duty, felt constrained to include more child-rearing and religious aspects to their works.
d
Why did both ██████ ███ ███ ████████ █████████ █████ █████████████ ██ █████ ███ █████ █████████
The author doesn’t try to explain why Jewett focuses on women and their concerns.
e
Why was Jewett ██████ ██ ███████ ████████ ██ ████████ ██ ███████████ ██ ███ █████ ██ ███ ████████ █████████ ████████ ████ ██ ███████
“Unable” makes this wrong. We don’t know that Jewett was not able to feature children and religious themes as much as other domestic novelists. She may have been just as able, but chose not to make those features as prominent for artistic purposes.