Gender of Freedom

Elizabeth Maddock Dillon is Associate Professor of English at Northeastern University.

• Contents Introduction: The Gender of Freedom and Women in Public1 Chapter One. Gender, Liberal Theory, and the Literary Public Sphere00 Chapter Two. Puritan Bodies and Transatlantic Texts00 Chapter Three. Contracting Marriage in the New Republic000 Chapter Four. Sociality and Sentiment000 Coda. Queering Marriage: Emily Dickinson and the Poetics of Title000 Notes Works Cited000 Index Library of Congress Subject Headings for this publication: American literature Colonial period, ca, 1600-1775 History and criticism, Liberty in literature, Dickinson, Emily, 1830-1886 Criticism and interpretation, American literature 1783-1850 History and criticism, Politics and literature United States History, Women and literature United States History, Sentimentalism in literature, Liberalism in literature, Sex role in literature, Marriage in literature, Women in literature

"Through an impressive synthesis of critical material from a wide range of disciplines and some astute readings of political theorists from Adam Smith to Jürgen Habermas, Elizabeth Maddock Dillon has produced an intriguing and largely persuasive account of the relationship between liberalism and gender difference." - William and Mary Quarterly "In this highly intelligent and elegantly written book, Elizabeth Maddock Dillon makes the important observation that U.S. liberalism depends upon the concept of gender for its successful functioning and, more particularly, that women's private status has been integral to liberalism since its inception." - Legacy