Women and Literature in Britain 1800–1900
Women and Literature in Britain 1800–1900
These new essays by leading scholars explore nineteenth-century women's writing across a spectrum of genres. The book's focus is on women's role in and access to literary culture in the broadest sense, as consumers and interpreters as well as practitioners of that culture. Individual chapters consider women as journalists, editors, translators, scholars, actresses, playwrights, autobiographers, biographers, writers for children and religious writers as well as novelists and poets. A unique chronology offers a woman-centered perspective on literary and historical events and there is a guide to further reading.
- Reassesses women's contribution to nineteenth century literary culture
- Shifts the emphasis from women's contributions to the novel in the nineteenth century to a consideration of their profound impact on literary culture in its broadest sense
- Focuses on a wide range of women writers, from historians and autobiographers through to children's writers and playwrights
Reviews & endorsements
"...it is difficult to think of a better introduction to the field--or a more salutary corrective to certain misconceptions. The reader concerned to learn what is was that women were writing (and why) during the nineteenth century in Britain will do well to begin here." Victorian Studies
"Going by sheer power to shape the study of English literature, the single most important volume this year
"An excellent companion to British women's writing of the 19th century. The contributors come at the topic from a fascinating variety of directions, treating not just poets and novelists, but also journalists, translators, editors, biographers, autobiographers, and playwrights...these are first-rate articles, up-to-date in terms of thought, scholarship, and bibliography." Choice
"The essays are scholarly, well-crafted, and accessible. The volume provides an excellent overview of critical perspectives on British women's writing in the nineteenth century...readers will find many of the discussions relevant to the study of women's writing in North America and elsewhere...the collection should be regarded as a significant contribution to literary studies." Victorian Periodicals Review
Product details
October 2001Paperback
9780521659574
336 pages
229 × 152 × 19 mm
0.5kg
Available
Table of Contents
- List of contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Chronology
- Introduction Joanne Shattock
- 1. The construction of the woman writer Joanne Shattock
- 2. Remaking the canon Joanne Wilkes
- 3. Women and the consumption of print Margaret Beetham
- 4. Women writing Woman: nineteenth-century representations of gender and sexuality Lyn Pykett
- 5. Feminism, journalism and public debate Barbara Caine
- 6. Women's writing and the domestic sphere Elizabeth Langland
- 7. Women, fiction and the market place Valerie Sanders
- 8. Women poets and the challenge of genre Virginia Blain
- 9. Women and the theatre Katherine Newey
- 10. Women writers and self-writing Linda Peterson
- 11. The professionalization of women's writing: extending the canon Judith Johnston and Hilary Fraser
- 12. Women writers and religion Elisabeth Jay
- 13. Women writing for children Lynne Vallone.
