“A Very Dangerous Talent”: Wit for Women in Hannah Webster Foster's The Boarding School

Authors

Yvette Piggush, College of Saint Benedict/Saint John's UniversityFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

3-2019

Disciplines

American Literature | Women's History

Abstract

Hannah Webster Foster's eighteenth-century novel The Boarding School shows how conduct literature and the republican culture of politeness create gender expectations for women's humor in the early United States. Foster teaches readers about the social effects of wit and guides them in using satire and irony to influence public opinion.

Comments

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1162/tneq_a_00720

Copyright Statement

© 2019 by The New England Quarterly

Recommended Citation

Yvette R. Piggush. “A Very Dangerous Talent”: Wit for Women in Hannah Webster Foster's The Boarding School. The New England Quarterly 2019 92:1, 46-74. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1162/tneq_a_00720