The Sensitive Son and the Feminine Ideal in Literature Writers from
This book considers major male writers from the last three centuries whose relation to a strong, often distant woman—one sometimes modeled on their own mother—forms the romantic core of their greatest narratives. Myron Tuman explores the theory that there
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The Sensitive Son and the Feminine Ideal in Literature
Myron Tuman
The Sensitive Son and the Feminine Ideal in Literature Writers from Rousseau to Roth
Myron Tuman New Orleans, LA, USA
ISBN 978-3-030-15700-5 ISBN 978-3-030-15701-2 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-15701-2 Library of Congress Control Number: 2019935565 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Cover credit: Historic Images/Alamy Stock Photo This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
To Philip Roth—My first reader
Preface
“Felt dull and sad all day,” Leo Tolstoy inscribed on a small scrap of paper just a few years before his death. “Toward evening,” he continued, “the mood changed into a desire for caresses, for tenderness.” After a lifetime spent seeking worldly success, the acclaimed author once again found himself reflecting on the saintly mother who had died before his second birthday. “I wanted, as when I was a child,” he continued, “to nestle against some tender and compassionate being and weep with love and be consoled […] become a tiny boy, close to my mother, the way I imagine her.” Here is Tolstoy describing his mother—Could it be any boy’s mother?—as the “highest image of love—not cold, divine love, but warm, earthly love, maternal.” This volume is a study of how a series of literary sons experienced a similar attachment to their mothers—both actual mothers and imaginary ones—and, as such, follows two earlier studies: Melville’s Gay Father, on male writers and their feeling for sons, and Don Juan and His Daughter, on female writers and their feeling for fathers. There is a thin autobiogra
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