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The history of the shifting image of the tomboy in popular culture
Tomboys
A Literary and Cultural History
Michelle Ann Abate
"An ambitious and exciting book that examines representations of what could be considered tomboys, in U.S. fiction and film, since 1859. The scope is impressive: Abate has done a great deal of archival research to unearth the titles she examines and cites many relevant theoretical and critical texts."
—Beverly Lyon Clark, Wheaton College
Starting with the figure of a bold, boisterous girl in the mid-nineteenth century and ending with the “girl power” movement of the 1990s, Tomboys is the first full-length critical study of this gender-bending code of female conduct. Michelle Abate uncovers the origins, charts the trajectory, and traces the literary and cultural transformations that the concept of “tomboy” has undergone in the United States. Abate focuses on literature including Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women and Carson McCullers’s The Member of the Wedding and films such as Peter Bogdanovich’s Paper Moon. She also draws on lesser-known texts like E.D.E.N. Southworth’s once wildly popular 1859 novel The Hidden Hand, Cold War lesbian pulp fiction, and New Queer Cinema from the 1990s.
Tomboys also explores the gender and sexual dynamics of tomboyism, and offers intriguing discussions of race and ethnicity’s role in the construction of the enduring cultural archetype. Abate’s insightful analysis provides useful, thought-provoking connections between different literary works and eras. The result demystifies this cultural phenomenon and challenges readers to consider tomboys in a whole new light.
Reviews
"Tomboys is well-written, grounded in detail from a broad range of texts, and engaging. This is a smart and insightful analysis of American literature, history and culture. Abate juxtaposes texts creatively and convincingly and provides useful, thought-provoking connections between different literary texts and eras. I expect it to inspire important, continuing conversations about history, race, and culture."
—Anne Phillips, Kansas State University
"An ambitious and exciting book that examines representations of what could be considered tomboys, in U.S. fiction and film, since 1859. The scope is impressive: Abate has done a great deal of archival research to unearth the titles she examines and cites many relevant theoretical and critical texts."
—Beverly Clark, Wheaton College
About the Author(s)
Michelle Ann Abate is an Assistant Professor of English at Hollins University.