The January–May Marriage in Nineteenth-Century British Literature

By considering the disruptive potential of age disparate marriages in nineteenth-century British literature, Godfrey offers provocative new readings of canonical texts including Don Juan, Jane Eyre, and Bleak House. Marriage between older husbands and younger wives was common in nineteenth-century literature, and as Godfrey skillfully argues, provides a useful window into the dynamics of the patriarchic paradigm. Examining canonical and non-canonical texts from Sense and Sensibility to Dracula, this study finds that literary January-May marriages respond to distinctively nineteenth-century anxieties regarding gender roles by deploying a surprising range of modes parody, incest, aesthetics, horror, economics, and love. The January-May Marriage in Nineteenth-Century British Literature ultimately argues that age, like race, sexuality and class is an essential component of gendered identities--Résumé de l'éditeur Front Matter....Pages i-xii Introduction....Pages 1-13 Intergenerational Marriages in Literature and the Nineteenth-Century Context....Pages 15-51 “Old Enough to Be Her Father”....Pages 53-88 Visualizing Power....Pages 89-112 The Horror of Aging....Pages 113-146 Sexual Economies and the January–May Marriage....Pages 147-174 January–May Love and the Sacrificial Ideal....Pages 175-197 Conclusion....Pages 199-211 Back Matter....Pages 213-256