On the Sources of Patriarchal Rage: The Commonplace Books of William Byrd and Thomas Jefferson and the Gendering of Power in the Eighteenth Century (History of Emotions, 5) - Softcover

Lockridge, Kenneth A.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0814750893 ISBN 13: 9780814750896

Publisher: NYU Press, 1994

Synopsis

"A brilliant . . . analysis of the fragile hegemony and identities of colonial Virginia's elite men. . . . On the Sources of Patriarchal Rage compellingly illuminates the ragged edge where masculinity and colonial identity meet. . . . [the book] will undoubtedly send Jefferson scholars scurrying back to their notes. . . . Most significant, by being among the first to tackle the subject of masculinity in early America, Lockridge forces colonial scholars to reexamine the lives of men they thought they already knew too well."
—William and Mary Quarterly
Two of the greatest of Virginia gentlemen, William Byrd II and Thomas Jefferson, each kept a commonplace book--in effect, a journal where men were to collect wisdom in the form of anecdotes and quotations from their readings with a sense of detachment and scholarship. Writing in these books, each assembled a prolonged series of observations laden with fear and hatred of women. Combining ignorance with myth and misogyny, Byrd's and Jefferson's books reveal their deep ambivalence about women, telling of women's lascivious nature and The Female Creed and invoking the fallible, repulsive, and implicitly corruptible female body as a central metaphor for all tales of social and political corruption.
Were these private outbursts meaningless and isolated incidents, attributable primarily to individual pathology, or are they written revelations of the forces working on these men to maintain patriarchal control? Their hatred for women draws upon a kind of misogynistic reserve found in the continental and English intellectual traditions, but it also twists and recontextualizes less misogynistic excerpts to intensified effect. From this interplay of intellectual traditions and the circumstances of each man's life and later behavior arises the possibility one or more specific politics of misogyny is at work here.
Kenneth Lockridge's work, replete with excerpts from the books themselves, leads us through these texts, exploring the structures, contexts, and significance of these writings in the wider historical context of gender and power. His book convincingly illustrates the ferocity of early American patriarchal rage; its various meanings, however suggestively explored here, must remain contestable.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

Two of the greatest Virginia gentlemen of the eighteenth century, William Byrd II and Thomas Jefferson, broke the genteel rules of the commonplace book - a place where gentlemen were to collect wisdom from their readings, recorded in variety and with detachment - each to assemble a prolonged series of quotations laden with fear and hatred of women. These books are witnesses to the events in which two men assembled their culture, literally enacted or embodied it in these books of themselves, on the issue of gender. The books are simultaneously confessionals. They are confessionals of intense personal crises of gender relations. Were these outbursts meaningless and isolated incidents, or were they rare revelations of the pressures on such gentlemen to maintain patriarchal control? Kenneth Lockridge leads us on an exploration of the possible structures, contexts and significances of these great mythmakers' misogynistic moments. Each outburst draws upon a kind of "misogynistic reserve" available in the continental and English intellectual traditions, but each also twists and re-contexts less misogynistic excerpts to intensified effect. From the interplay of intellectual traditions, personal re-contextings, and the circumstances of each man's life and later behavior, arises the possibility that one or more specific "politics of misogyny" is at work here, and that these reenactments of culture are redolent of the stresses on the male subject in the eighteenth century in general and among Virginia gentry in particular. The essay is an opening of these texts only, and a reflection on their possible meanings in the wider contexts of gender and power in the eighteenth century. That rage waspresent seems clear; but its meanings - here suggestively explored - must remain contestable.

About the Author:

Trained under Frank Craven and Lawrence Stone, Kenneth A. Lockridge teaches at the University of Montana and is the author of numerous essays on American and European history.

About this edition

• Publisher: NYU Press
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 0814750893
• ISBN 13: 9780814750896
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 148