Woman's Work in English Fiction, from the Restoration to the Mid-Victorian Period

Metadata

Gutenberg ID

34613

Title

Woman's Work in English Fiction, from the Restoration to the Mid-Victorian Period

Language

en

Book source

Project Gutenberg

Description max 80 words

Clara H. Whitmore's pioneering 1910 anthology offers a woman's perspective on English fiction from the Restoration to the mid-Victorian era. It rescues forgotten female authors from oblivion, celebrating their genius and unique insights into human nature that male critics often overlooked.

Summary up to 500 words

Clara H. Whitmore's *Woman's Work in English Fiction* serves as both a historical record and a vindication of women's literary contributions from the Restoration to the mid-Victorian period. Whitmore argues that while male-dominated literary history often ignored female authors, women were not merely imitators of men but pioneers who opened new paths in fiction. The work chronicles the evolution of the English novel through the lives of writers who excelled in portraying the nuances of the masculine sex and the complexities of female experience with a sensitivity often lacking in their male counterparts. The narrative begins with the Restoration era, highlighting Margaret Cavendish, whose philosophical and fictional works predated realism, and Aphra Behn, who established prose fiction as a distinct art form. Moving into the eighteenth century, Whitmore explores the psychological depth of Sarah Fielding, the adventurous plots of Eliza Haywood, and the satirical masterpiece *The Female Quixote* by Charlotte Lennox. Frances Burney is celebrated for bridging high and low society with moral rigor in novels like *Evelina* and *Cecilia*, while Hannah More is examined for her moral and political activism, which utilized chap-books to educate the poor against revolutionary influences. As the text progresses into the Romantic and Victorian periods, Whitmore investigates the Gothic sensibilities of Ann Radcliffe, the educational tales of Maria Edgeworth, and the domestic realism of Jane Austen. Special attention is given to the Brontë sisters, whose intense emotional landscapes revolutionized the genre, and Elizabeth Gaskell, who brought social realism to the forefront. Whitmore contends that these women writers excelled in depicting human nature, particularly the phases of men's characters that male authors like Fielding, Scott, and Thackeray seemingly failed to see. By recovering these voices, the book fills a historical gap, demonstrating that women have always been story-tellers who, upon the advent of the novel, began to write with genius, thereby securing an equal share in the noble province of letters.

LLM editorial rating

4.2/5

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Categories

• Fiction
• Women and Literature