Gertrude Atherton’s Modern New Women in <i>The Sisters-in-Law</i> and <i>Black Oxen</i>

Abstract Gertrude Atherton (1857–1948) was a notable and highly prolific American woman writer of novels, short stories, articles, and essays. Atherton’s writing was published in popular magazines of the time. She addressed women’s lives and traditional circumstances, liberating potential and desired progress ranging from socioeconomic opportunities and intellectual growth to political awareness and active roles in public life. To this end, her novels reflect a unique interpretation of American society, cultural traditions and politics with her progressive vision. In The Sisters-in-Law: A Novel of Our Time (1921) and Black Oxen (1923), Atherton explores the rise of New Woman and new morality before, during and after WWI. The pre-war socioeconomic awareness, wartime services and suffering, and postwar opportunities opened new paths for American women beyond Victorian womanhood and the flapper revolution in the ‘Roaring Twenties’. Atherton’s progressive social novels portray the new woman’s transformation into modern career woman via education and experience, economic self-sufficiency, political consciousness, and wartime mobilization. In The Sisters-in-Law , Gora Dwight serves as a mentor to her younger sister-in-law, Alexina, through her self-reliance, which urges her true liberation. In Black Oxen , Madame Zattiany’s wartime efforts, postwar reconstruction agenda, and scientific rejuvenation negate the traditional view of aging as the decline of beauty, productivity and desirability of women. Atherton’s semi-autobiographical novel Black Oxen also exemplifies the popularity of Steinach rejuvenation procedure in the post-WWI for regaining youthful energy and efficiency. 1