Issue Details: First known date: 2013... 2013 “Aunt Sophie Smashes a Triangle” Stella Miles Franklin and the 1913 Adultery Narratives
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'Nineteen thirteen was an extraordinary year for Stella Miles Franklin. Alongside her hectic schedule with the National Women's Trade Union League in Chicago, Franklin worked on a variety of manuscripts, including the suffrage play “Aunt Sophie Smashes a Triangle”. I focus on this play about male adultery, contextualising it in her personal relationships and intellectual life, especially in the ways Franklin's interest in social purity, feminism, and the influence of Charlotte Perkins Gilman coincided with moral movements abounding in Chicago during 1913. Energised by the progressive literary endeavours of the period, Franklin makes three important points in this protest play about male adultery that include: the degeneracy of masculinity that leads to male susceptibility for adultery, the dangers of domesticity that help explain male infidelity, and the necessity of women's economic independence and solidarity to survive the realities of male adultery in society. In this latter claim, Franklin subverts the polarisation of wife and mistress and presents women as allies united in resisting male sexual transgressions.' (Source: Author's abstract)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

Last amended 5 Jun 2013 13:35:13
225-242 “Aunt Sophie Smashes a Triangle” Stella Miles Franklin and the 1913 Adultery Narrativessmall AustLit logo Journal of Australian Studies
X