Abstract

ABSTRACT This essay adopts a Critical Stylistic approach to uncover the linguistic mechanisms of implicit, (counter-)ideological meaning in the female-targeted periodical Good Housekeeping during the interwar period, and chiefly in its “Household Engineering” article series, where a complex discourse of modern housewifery, based on expert advice and industrial rationalisation, was shaped and negotiated through a rhetoric of scientific management and efficiency. In particular, this study investigates the discursive construction of the pervasive image of the female professional homemaker interested in the latest technological methods and innovations, by considering the role played by implicit meaning in shaping feminine roles and dominant gender ideologies. A Critical Stylistic analysis of presupposition and implicature in Good Housekeeping featured articles shows how these strategies reveal implicitly construed ideologies of womanhood, and particularly the way in which the magazine adopted linguistic devices to accommodate modern ideals of femininity without rejecting more traditional ones.

Talk to us

Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have

Schedule a call

Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.