Intimate Strangers: Regionalism and the Construction of Nonhuman Subjectivities in Mary E. Wilkins Freeman's Animal Fiction.

What is the role of genre in the fictional representation of animals? Mary E. Wilkins Freeman's collection Understudies (1901) demonstrates how regionalist conventions are extended into nonhuman domains. Understudies attempts to do for nonhuman creatures what regionalist writers had long done for ma...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Modern Literature Vol. 49; no. 2; pp. 1 - 20
Main Author: Evron, Nir
Format: Literary Criticism
Published: Indiana University Press Winter2026
Subjects:
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
fields @attributes:
  recordID: 1
pdfLink:
plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=192311957&site=ehost-live
header:
  @attributes:
    shortDbName: hlh
    uiTerm: 192311957
    longDbName: Humanities International Complete
    uiTag: AN
  controlInfo:
    bkinfo:
    jinfo:
      jid:
        0022281X
        JML
      jtl: Journal of Modern Literature
      issn: 0022281X
      maglogo: N
    pubinfo:
      dt: Winter2026
      vid: 49
      iid: 2
      pid: 211
      pub: Indiana University Press
    artinfo:
      ui:
        192311957
        10.2979/jml.00120
      ppf: 1
      ppct: 19
      formats:
        fmt:
          – @attributes:
              type: T
          – @attributes:
              type: P
              size: 818KB
      tig:
        atl: Intimate Strangers: Regionalism and the Construction of Nonhuman Subjectivities in Mary E. Wilkins Freeman's Animal Fiction.
      aug:
        au: Evron, Nir
        affil: Tel Aviv University
      su:
        Regionalism
        Genre studies
        Animals in art
        Animal stories
        Fictional characters
        20th century (Literary period)
      sug:
        subj:
          Regionalism
          Genre studies
          Animals in art
          Animal stories
          Fictional characters
          20th century (Literary period)
      keyword:
        animal studies
        anthropomorphism
        genre studies
        Mary E. Wilkins Freeman
        regionalism
      ab: What is the role of genre in the fictional representation of animals? Mary E. Wilkins Freeman's collection Understudies (1901) demonstrates how regionalist conventions are extended into nonhuman domains. Understudies attempts to do for nonhuman creatures what regionalist writers had long done for marginalized human groups: nudge them into the circle of social and moral concern by demonstrating their kinship with "us" while preserving a modicum of untranslatability that allows them to retain their integrity and independent value as "other." By bringing genre studies to bear on historicist explorations of animal representation, this essay demonstrates how form shapes the literary depiction of human and nonhuman subjects alike.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype: Literary Criticism
      src: R
    language: English
    refInfo:
    copyright:
      @attributes:
        flag: Y
      custom: Copyright of Journal of Modern Literature is the property of Indiana University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.
      item: Journal of Modern Literature
      holder: Indiana University Press
      dt:
        @attributes:
          year: 2026
    holdings:
      @attributes:
        islocal: N