Irishness and Womanhood in Nineteenth-Century British Writing

"In The Wild Irish Girl, the powerful Irish heroine's marriage to a heroic Englishman symbolizes the Anglo-Irish novelist Lady Morgan's re-imagining of the relationship between Ireland and Britain and between men and women. Using this most influential of pro-union novels as his point of departure, Thomas J. Tracy argues that nineteenth-century debates over what constitutes British national identity often revolved around representations of Irishness, especially Irish womanhood. He maps out the genealogy of this development, from Edgeworth's Castle Rackrent through Trollope's Irish novels, focusing on the pivotal period from 1806 through the 1870s. Tracy's model enables him to elaborate the ways in which gender ideals are specifically contested in fiction, the discourses of political debate and social reform, and the popular press, for the purpose of defining not only the place of the Irish in the union with Great Britain, but the nature of Britishness itself."--Provided by publisher. Contents......Page 6 Acknowledgements......Page 8 Introduction......Page 10 Discourse and the Novel......Page 17 The Wild Irish Girl: Owenson......Page 24 The Mild Irish Girl: Edgeworth......Page 33 Nineteenth-Century Culture Wars......Page 40 Exclusive Inclusion: Ormond......Page 43 “The Pistol Accidentally Went Off”: Ormond and Familial Politics......Page 47 Curing “The Condition of Irishness”......Page 55 Contesting Edgeworth......Page 60 “Neither in Command nor Supplication”......Page 67 Introduction......Page 74 Inferior Irish Criminality......Page 78 The Migratory Thesis......Page 83 “Women Half-Naked Carrying Brickbats and Stones”......Page 90 Introduction......Page 94 “Banish the Jealous Suspicion with Which One Order Regards Another”......Page 98 The Two Nations: Working Class and Bourgeoisie......Page 102 Introduction......Page 110 Class Hysteria: Croker......Page 111 Happy Beef and Pudding: Thackeray’s Anti-Romance......Page 117 Anti-Domesticity and the Return of the Colonial Repressed: Barry Lyndon......Page 119 Female Strength as a Demonic Force: Irish Anti-Domesticity and the British Middle Class......Page 123 Trollope and Ireland......Page 126 The Seduction Plot......Page 128 Striking at the Corrupt Power Structure, not Union......Page 138 “Why Am I to Keep an Irishman?”......Page 142 “Irish Beggary and Ruin Follows the March of Our History”......Page 143 Mythic Nation-building: Pendennis......Page 146 Seduction Plot: Suite......Page 160 Unimagined Community......Page 168 Works Cited: Primary Sources......Page 170 Works Cited: Secondary Sources......Page 171 Further Reading......Page 175 Index......Page 188

In The Wild Irish Girl, the powerful Irish heroine's marriage to a heroic Englishman symbolizes the Anglo-Irish novelist Lady Morgan's re-imagining of the relationship between Ireland and Britain and between men and women. Using this most influential of pro-union novels as his point of departure, Thomas J. Tracy argues that nineteenth-century debates over what constitutes British national identity often revolved around representations of Irishness, especially Irish womanhood. He maps out the genealogy of this development, from Edgeworth's Castle Rackrent through Trollope's Irish novels, focusing on the pivotal period from 1806 through the 1870s. Tracy's model enables him to elaborate the ways in which gender ideals are specifically contested in fiction, the discourses of political debate and social reform, and the popular press, for the purpose of defining not only the place of the Irish in the union with Great Britain, but the nature of Britishness itself.

In The Wild Irish Girl, the powerful Irish heroine's marriage to a heroic Englishman symbolizes the Anglo-Irish novelist Lady Morgan's re-imagining of the relationship between Ireland and Britain and between men and women. Using this most influential of pro-union novels as his point of departure, the author argues that nineteenth-century debates over what constitutes British national identity often revolved around representations of Irishness, especially Irish womanhood. He maps out the genealogy of this development, from Edgeworth's Castle Rackrent through Trollope's Irish novels, focusing on the pivotal period from 1806 through the 1870s. The author's model enables him to elaborate the ways in which gender ideals are specifically contested in fiction, the discourses of political debate and social reform, and the popular press, for the purpose of defining not only the place of the Irish in the union with Great Britain, but the nature of Britishness itself. A Long Conversation -- The Mild Irish Girl : Domesticating The National Tale -- Ormond : From The Disease Of Power And Wealth To The Condition Of Irishness -- Transcending Ascendancy : Florence Mccarthy -- Policing The Chief Nests Of Disease And Broils -- Kay, Engels, And The Condition Of The Irish -- British National Identity And Irish Antidomesticity In Pre-famine British Literature And Criticism -- A Comic Plot With A Tragic Ending : The Macdermots Of Ballycloran -- The Sacred, The Profane, And The Middle Class : Thackeray's Post-famine Criticism And Pendennis -- Allegory For The End Of Union : Trollope's An Eye For An Eye. Thomas Tracy. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [161]-177) And Index. Using Lady Morgan's The Wild Irish Girl as his point of departure, Thomas J. Tracy argues that nineteenth-century debates over what constitutes British national identity often revolved around representations of Irishness, especially Irish womanhood. He maps the genealogy of this development in fiction, political discourse, and the popular press, from Edgeworth's Castle Rackrent through Trollope's Irish novels, focusing on the pivotal period from 1806 through the 1870s In this book, Thomas J. Tracy argues that 19th-century debates over what constitutes British national identity often revolved around representations of Irishness, especially Irish womanhood. He maps out the genealogy of this development, from Edgeworth's Castle Rackrent through Trollope's Irish novels, focusing on the period from 1806 to the 1870s