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“As Child In Time”: Childhood, Temporality, And 19th Century U.S. Literary Imaginings Of Democracy, Marissa Carrere

Doctoral Dissertations

‘As Child in Time’ stands at the intersection of literary-historical studies of the 19^th century U.S., political theory, and childhood studies. Limning the child’s contested position in cultural imaginings of democracy—at once embodying its ideals and marking its limits—I describe how the child offers a site upon which to demythologize U.S. democracy, yet also offers a vehicle that can meaningfully engage some of the irresolvable tensions fundamental to democratic thought. In particular, this project focuses on the child’s role in conceptualizing what we might call dilemmas of democratic time. Chapter One examines how Catharine Maria Sedgwick’s The Linwoods …