Fragile Families (eBook)

Marriage and Domestic Life in the Age of Bourgeois Modernity (1750-1900)

Joachim Eibach (Autor)

eBook Download: PDF

2023
302 Seiten
De Gruyter (Verlag)
978-3-11-108170-0 (ISBN)

Infos

In the era of bourgeois modernity (1750-1900), the family is as valued as it is vulnerable. It constitutes a community of care, conflict, and emotion. Time and again, it is evoked as a bond of love as well as a moral institution. Yet both love and morality are fragile. A more detailed exploration reveals that domestic life during this period was much more colorful, open, and dynamic - and also more prone to crisis - than one might expect given the vaunted view of the family that characterized the heyday of the bourgeoisie.

This book rewrites the history of the modern family. Self-narratives - primarily diaries - written by members of eight families from Germany, Switzerland, and Austria serve as sources for this research. The focus extends far beyond the bourgeoisie. With a micro-historical eye, the author reconstructs family histories from the peasant milieu to the patrician elite, from the parsonage to the educated bourgeoisie; he considers the domestic life of a journeyman craftsman, a couple's descent from the ranks of the petite bourgeoisie, the effects of an itinerant childhood among the proletariat, and the strain of being caught between a bourgeois family and artistic individuality. Many of these aspects point beyond bourgeois modernity to the family in our time.

Joachim Eibach, University of Bern, Switzerland.

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 24.10.2023
• Übersetzer: Alissa Jones Nelson
• Zusatzinfo: 7 b/w and 16 col. ill., 1 b/w tbl.
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte
• ISBN-10: 3-11-108170-2 / 3111081702
• ISBN-13: 978-3-11-108170-0 / 9783111081700