Displaying Women: Spectacles of Leisure in Edith Wharton's New York

Montgomery uses letters, print media sources, etiquette manuals and the New York fiction of Edith Wharton and Henry James to explore the role of women in New York at the turn of the 19th century. Her study is a fascinating one that follows women through the machinery of manners as they move, for the first time, out of doors--not to run errands, but to see and be seen. Women became the markers of the new leisure class. Where they led, everyone wanted to follow. And it was the emerging print media that let everyone know where they were going. Weeklies like Town Topics alerted readers as to where, what and with whom these women ate. The more the press wrote about what they wore and did, the more attention they paid to such things, until each outing became an exhibition. The idea of ""the male gaze"" came into fruition along with, as Montgomery puts it, ""the sexualization of women's appearance in public space."" Although women seemed to be coming into their own, little changed in their position in relation to men: their behavior was just as regulated as ever and even more scrutinized; their public display of wealth reflected the power of their husbands. High society wooed the media for this purpose, but also cowered from its ceaseless gaze--an irreconcilable situation that ended up creating an infinite dependence. In essence, Montgomery deftly shows how turn-of-the-century New York brought about the marriage of publicity and culture--a relationship where one could not survive or, rather, thrive, without the other. Photos. (May)