Abstract

The glory of love

This article focuses on the book "Searching the Heart: Women, Men, and Romantic Love in Nineteenth-Century America," by Karen Lystra. In the book "Searching the Heart," Karen Lystra examines the love letters of more than a hundred men and women and finds those letters a rich source for understanding the private/public dichotomy at the heart of middle-class Victorian culture. Lystra's engaging study adds to the literature that rejects the old stereotype of Victorian sexual repression and moves beyond it to advance the more provocative and more problematic argument that women gained power, standing and status through romantic love. The erotic intensity of the letters may surprise those who still mistake Victorian prudery for lack of passion.