Aristocratic Women and the Literary Nation, 1832–1867

Aristocratic women flourished in the Victorian literary world, their combination of class privilege and gendered exclusion generating distinctively socialized modes of participation in cultural and political activity. Their writing offers an important trope through which to consider the nature of political, private and public spheres. Aristocratic Women and the Literary Nation, 1832-1867 offers a literary complement to recent historians' emphasis upon the cultural visibility and significance of the British aristocracy during the Victorian period. Aristocratic women benefited from a leisured model of socialised dilettante interaction that allowed them both to maintain and to market their high social status through their writing, but this model could prove a liability in attempts at serious social and/or intellectual engagement. Instead, these women became targets for critiques aimed at defining certain forms of individual and national identity, even as they themselves adapted to changing value schemes. Aristocratic women's writing therefore offers an important literary and cultural trope through which to consider gendered models of influence, elite identities, the nature of politics, private and public spheres, marriage, professional identities, literary hierarchies, imperial experiences, and ultimately the ongoing representation of the nation state between the Reform Bills of 1832 and 1867--Résumé de l'éditeur "Aristocratic Women and the Literary Nation, 7832-7867 offers a literary complement to recent historians' emphasis upon the cultural visibility and significance of the British aristocracy during the Victorian period. Aristocratic women benefited from a leisured model of socialised dilettante interaction that allowed them both to maintain and to market their high social status through their writing, but this model could prove a liability in attempts at serious social and/or intellectual engagement. Instead, these women became targets for critiques aimed at defining certain forms of individual and national identity, even as they themselves adapted to changing value schemes. Aristocratic women's writing therefore offers an important literary and cultural trope through which to consider gendered models of influence, elite identities, the nature of politics, private and public spheres, marriage, professional identities, literary hierarchies, imperial experiences, and ultimately the ongoing representation of the nation state between the Reform Bills of 1832 and 1867"--Jacket "Fairy Tales, Natural History and Victorian Culture deals with the way in which natural history was connected to the world of fairies and highlights how shifts in the understanding of natural history, especially after 1859, had a significant impact on fairy stories and Victorian experiments with the literary fairy tale. By exploring the interaction between scientific and literary fields, this book shows the ways in which natural knowledge was shaped and disseminated in Victorian culture and illuminates cultural practices through which new representations of nature and the natural world were popularised. This original approach to Victorian culture, blending studies of fictional and non-fictional narratives, examines therefore a part of the history of the mediation of knowledge about nature in the Victorian period and points out how the mediation of this new knowledge contributed to the Victorians' awareness of environmental issues"-- Provided by publisher "Colonial Girlhood in Literature, Culture and History, 1840-1950 explores a range of real and fictional colonial girlhood experiences from Jamaica, Mauritius, South Africa, India, New Zealand, Australia, England, Ireland, and Canada to reflect on the transitional state of girlhood between childhood and adulthood. The interconnected themes of colonialism, empire, gender, race, and class show how colonial girls occupy ambivalent positions in British and settler societies between 1840 and 1950. Although girlhood is often linked to freedom, independence, novelty, and modernity, it may also represent an idea that needs to be contained and controlled to serve the needs of the nation. Across national boundaries, the malleability of colonial girlhoods is evident. Drawing on a range of approaches including history, anthropology, and literary and cultural studies, this book reflects on the complexities of girlhood during the colonial era."-- Provided by publisher Front Matter....Pages i-vii Introduction....Pages 1-19 Front Matter....Pages 21-21 Aristocratic Lives: Life-Writing, Class and Authority....Pages 23-45 Dilettantes and Dandies: Authorship and the Silver Fork Novel....Pages 46-62 Silly Novels and Lady Novelists: Inside the Literary Marketplace....Pages 63-86 Front Matter....Pages 87-91 Wrongs Make Rebels: Polemical Voices....Pages 93-128 The Spectacle of Fiction: Self, Society and the Novel....Pages 129-152 Affairs of State: Aristocratic Women and the Politics of Influence....Pages 153-179 Conclusion: 1867 and Beyond....Pages 180-183 Back Matter....Pages 184-241