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A review by acejolras
The Civil Wars of Julia Ward Howe by Elaine Showalter
2.0
I have a feeling the author really wanted to do an academic paper on Howe’s poetry, but for whatever reason couched in a biography that could have a more mainstream audience. The main addition to this work over other biographies was the dissection of Howe’s unhappy marriage. Overall I found there just wasn’t enough there for a full length book - Battle Hymn came to Howe one night in a dream, which seems more like a fun anecdote than the basis for a whole narrative. I think her children expressed it well that they were surprised their mother’s legacy has become well known, while their father is rarely discussed, though it was the opposite in life.
Then there were the several big yikes moments. In the introduction, the author explicitly says the success of Battle Hymn is what allowed Howe to “emancipate” herself...no more explanation needed there. In discussing Howe’s husband’s school for the blind, she likens a blind pupil wearing a ribbon around her eyes (by what seems to be personal preference) as the same as Jews being forced into ghettos and made to wear yellow stars.
One more interesting fact I learned was Howe had written much of an unfinished novel about a “hermaphrodite.” I don’t disagree with the author that this was a device meant to explore gender roles, but it was very disappointing that there was not a single mention on how the term shouldn’t be used and that Howe’s work reflects nothing of the actual intersex experience.
Then there were the several big yikes moments. In the introduction, the author explicitly says the success of Battle Hymn is what allowed Howe to “emancipate” herself...no more explanation needed there. In discussing Howe’s husband’s school for the blind, she likens a blind pupil wearing a ribbon around her eyes (by what seems to be personal preference) as the same as Jews being forced into ghettos and made to wear yellow stars.
One more interesting fact I learned was Howe had written much of an unfinished novel about a “hermaphrodite.” I don’t disagree with the author that this was a device meant to explore gender roles, but it was very disappointing that there was not a single mention on how the term shouldn’t be used and that Howe’s work reflects nothing of the actual intersex experience.