Black Oxen

“Broadview’s edition of Atherton’s Black Oxen is long overdue. Of interest to students of 1920s culture, gender studies, and aging studies, Atherton’s novel explores the 1920s female rejuvenation craze. Melanie Dawson situates Atherton’s work in the context of its time, exploring gender and generational tensions, the cult of the flapper, the literary sophistication of the Algonquin Round Table, and the role of American intellectuals on the international stage. Historical documents that illuminate these issues, as well as the popularity of Atherton’s novel and its film adaptation, will bring the novel to life for students. Dawson’s edition of Black Oxen should help the novel enjoy the rejuvenation it deserves.” — Meredith Goldsmith, Ursinus College

“Melanie Dawson’s critical edition of Gertrude Atherton’s Black Oxen provides a good range of contextual materials illuminating the novel’s exploration of youth culture, science and technology, eugenics, and sexual politics in the early twentieth century. Dawson’s helpful introduction also emphasizes the novel’s engagement with national and international concerns of the period. Supplementary materials provide a useful overview of rejuvenation theories (including Atherton’s own writing on the subject), contemporary discourses of marriage, gender, and the flapper, and the reception of Atherton’s novel and its popular movie version. The edition will be particularly welcome in modernism and women’s studies courses.” — Gary Totten, North Dakota State University