'The Fatal Effects of Parental Tyranny' and Other Fantasies of Daughter/Father Relationships, 1780-1840

Martha Tomhave Blauvelt, College of Saint Benedict/Saint John's University

Abstract

Popular late 18th and early 19th c. American stories of daughter/father relationships feature either malicious and tyrannical or sweet and incompetent fathers, both concerned with whom their daughters will marry. I will explore the meaning of these stories, their relationship to reality, and shifts in daughter/father imagery in American print culture between 1780 and 1840.