AustLit

Bradford is concerned here with the tendency to treat the terms 'sentimentality' and 'sentimental' as universal and unchanging, arguing instead that notions of sentimentality are largely culturally-dependent and furthermore, are often attached to the mythmaking practices associated with national identity (17). According to Richard White, national mythologies and cultural sentimentalism are 'invented within a framework of modern Western ideas about science, nature, race, society and nationality' (17). After a close analyses of the listed texts, Bradford contends that 'ideas about sentimentality are inextricably connected with assumptions of the patriarchal relations which are still dominant within the institutions and practices of contemporary societies' (26).