"Barn i litteraturen." . . "Children in literature." . . "Adoption in literature." . . "USA." . . "Amerikansk litteratur historia." . . "Caractère national américain Dans la littérature." . . "Adoption (Motiv)" . . "Families in literature." . . "Kind (Motiv)" . . "LITERARY CRITICISM American General." . . "Adoption dans la littérature." . . "Adoption Dans la littérature." . "Familles dans la littérature." . . "National characteristics, American, in literature." . . "Bellettrie." . . "Familie (Motiv)" . . . . . . . "Adopting America childhood, kinship, and national identity in literature"@en . "Adopting America childhood, kinship, and national identity in literature" . . . . . . . . . . . "Electronic books"@en . . "Adopting America : Childhood, Kinship, and National Identity in Literature" . . "Electronic resource"@en . "Criticism, interpretation, etc"@en . "Criticism, interpretation, etc" . . . . "Adopting America Childhood, Kinship, and National Identity in Literature"@en . . . . . . . . . "Adopting america : childhood, kinship, and national identity in literature"@en . "Adopting america : childhood, kinship, and national identity in literature" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . "Adopting America : childhood, kinship, and national identity in literature" . . . "American literature abounds with orphans who experience adoption or placements that resemble adoption. These narratives do more than describe adventures of children living away from home. They tell an American story of family and national identity. In literature from the seventeenth to the early twentieth century, adoption functions as narrative event and trope to recount the American migratory experience, the impact of Calvinist faith, and the growth of democratic individualism. The literary roots of adoption appear in the discourse of Puritan settlers, who ambivalently took leave of their birth country and portrayed themselves as abandoned offspring. Believing they were chosen children of God, they also prayed for spiritual adoption and emulated God's grace by extending adoption to others. Nineteenth-century literature develops from this idea of adoption as salvation and from simultaneous attachments to the Old World and New. In fiction of the mid-nineteenth century, adoption also reflects the importance of nurture in childrearing and the nation's increased mobility. Middle-class concerns over immigration and urbanization appear in the form of orphancy and are addressed through adoption. For some, adoption signals a fresh start and the opportunity for success without genealogical constraints. Other times, particularly for girls and children of color, it suggests dependence, reflecting contemporary gender and racial biases. A complex signifier of difference, adoption gives voice to concurrent and sometimes contradictory calls to origins and new beginnings; to feelings of worthiness and unworthiness. In writings from John Winthrop and Cotton Mather to Nathaniel Hawthorne, Louisa May Alcott, and Edith Wharton, Carol Singley reveals how adoption both replicates and challenges genealogical norms, evoking ambivalence and playing a foundational role in the shaping of many of our most dearly held national mythologies."@en . . . . . "American literature abounds with orphans who experience adoption or placements that resemble adoption. These stories do more than recount adventures of children living away from home. They tell an American story of family and national identity. In narratives from the seventeenth to the early twentieth century, adoption functions as narrative event and trope that describes the American migratory experience, the impact of Calvinist faith, and the growth of democratic individualism. The roots of literary adoption appear in the discourse of Puritan settlers, who ambivalently took leave of their birth parent country and portrayed themselves as abandoned children. Believing they were chosen children of God, they also prayed for spiritual adoption and emulated God's grace by extending adoption to others. Nineteenth-century adoption literature develops from this notion of adoption as salvation and from simultaneous attachments to the Old World and the New. In domestic fiction of the mid-nineteenth century, adoption also reflects a focus on nurture in childrearing, increased mobility in the nation, and middle-class concerns over immigration and urbanization, assuaged when the orphan finds a proper, loving home. Adoption signals fresh starts and the opportunity for success without genealogical constraints, especially for white males, but inflected by gender and racial biases, it often entails dependency for girls and children of color. A complex signifier of difference, adoption gives voice to sometimes contradictory calls to origins and fresh beginning; to feelings of worthiness and unworthiness. In writings from Cotton Mather to Edith Wharton, it both replicates and offers an alternative to the genealogical norm, evoking ambivalence as it shapes national mythologies. -- from the publisher."@en . . . . "Américains dans la littérature." . . "Littérature américaine Histoire et critique." . . "Familjer i litteraturen." . . "Singley, Carol J." . . "Adoptie." . . "Geschichte 1600-1920." . . "Amerikaans." . . "Nationale kenmerken." . . "American literature History and criticism." . . "Nationalcharakter (Motiv)" . . "Littérature américaine Thèmes, motifs." . . "Literatur." . . "Enfants dans la littérature." . .