"Has He Madeira of Fifty Years Standing?": Gentility, medievalism, masculinity, and the allure of the Virginia Springs in the late antebellum South.

This article begins a critical revision of a historiography that has overestimated themes of honor and race in understanding constructions of elite white masculinity in the antebellum South. Gentility, too, played a decisive role in framing appropriate manly behavior. By investigating the specific i...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Publicado en:American Nineteenth Century History Vol. 25; no. 1; pp. 3 - 20
Autor principal: Arthurs, Callum
Formato: Artículo
Publicado: Taylor & Francis Ltd Apr2024
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Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
Descripción
Sumario:This article begins a critical revision of a historiography that has overestimated themes of honor and race in understanding constructions of elite white masculinity in the antebellum South. Gentility, too, played a decisive role in framing appropriate manly behavior. By investigating the specific interaction between the Southern discourses of gentility, medievalism, and masculinity, this article indicates a direction for significant future study of Southern elites. It first addresses these themes in a broader, conceptual sense, before turning to the embodiment and apotheosis of gentility, medievalism, and gender roles in the South: the leisure resorts of the Virginia Springs.