In 1907–1908, Harper's Bazaar
published The Whole Family, a "strangely exciting" serial novel in 12 parts, each written by a different author (well known at the time but now mostly forgotten) from the perspective of a different member of one family. This part-realist, part-modernist, not entirely successful project—conceived by the "Dean of American Literature," William Dean Howells, who wrote the first chapter—often contradicts and undermines itself as it tells of a prospective marriage in a small city. Mary Wilkins Freeman, for example, transformed a character portrayed by Howells as a "pathetic, man-hungry spinster" into "a charming modern woman." Other contributors included Henry James and Harper's Bazaar
editor Elizabeth Jordan. Howard describes her painstaking analytic method as "microhistory," an examination of early 20th-century American culture interleaved by sections on the publishing industry, gender relations, middle-class ideology, genre conventions and authorship itself. Howard illuminates particularly well the complexities of the terms "sentimentality" and the "New Woman," both rich and timely subjects. Her admirable research and organization overcome the often hazy boundaries of cultural studies. While Howard claims that it's unnecessary to read the 12 chapters to understand her study, some readers may wish for more plot information. Conveniently, Duke will simultaneously publish The Whole Family, with an introduction by Howard. Her often dryly academic style ("Any tidy, prescriptive definition [of 'sentimentality'] would obscure the way usages of the term bundle heterogeneous elements together and manifest its deep roots and ramified connections") will put off general readers, but literary scholars, Americanists in particular, will find this work a valuable contribution. Copious documentary illustrations are vivid and useful. (Nov.)
