Gendered Readings of Uncle Tom's Cabin: The Example of Sand and Flaubert

Flaubert's reactions to Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852) illustrate gendered readings of race. Whereas Sand praised its domestic qualities, Flaubert criticized its narrow focus on slavery and moral, political values. These reactions mark a separation between Sand's socially-oriented literature that appealed to women and Flaubert's æsthetically-oriented, presumably universal "art for art's sake." That separation can also be identified in other nineteenth and twentieth century writers, with men criticizing Stowe in the name of universal æsthetic values and women acknowledging the need to read her within a feminine narrative tradition in which women spoke out in behalf of the oppressed Other. (DYK)