Women’s Writing and Mission in the Nineteenth Century : Jane Eyre’s Missionary Sisters

Until now, the missionary plot in Charlotte Brontë’s __Jane Eyre__ has been seen as marginal and anomalous. Despite women missionaries being ubiquitous in the nineteenth century, they appeared to be absent from nineteenth-century literature. As this book demonstrates, though, the female missionary character and narrative was, in fact, present in a range of writings from missionary newsletters and life writing, to canonical Victorian literature, New Woman fiction and women’s college writing. Nineteenth-century women writers wove the tropes of the female missionary figure and plot into their domestic fiction, and the female missionary themes of religious self-sacrifice and heroism formed the subjectivity of these writers and their characters. Offering an alternative narrative for the development of women writers and early feminism, as well as a new reading of __Jane Eyre__, this book adds to the debate about whether religious women in the nineteenth century could actually be radical and feminist. Cover Half Title Series Information Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Table of Contents Figures Acknowledgements Abbreviations Introduction Nineteenth-Century Missionary Women and Mission History Religion, the Female Missionary and Gender Ideology in Women’s Studies Examining the Female Missionary Narrative in Life Writing, Archives and Fiction Themes and Structure Notes Prologue: Ann Judson and Harriet Newell: Immortalising the Female Missionary Introduction Traditions in Religious Life Writing Controlling the Female Missionary Subject Harriet Newell Ann Judson Radical Autobiography and the Missionary Heroine Missionary Marriage The Public Role of the Female Missionary Female Missionary Heroism Conclusion Notes Part I: 1830–1870 1 Tales of Female Missionary Sacrifice: Tracts, Collective Biographies and Newsletters Introduction Knowles’s Memoir of Ann Judson: Inspiring and Reanimating Missionary Zeal From Knowles to Clara Balfour: Feminising Ann Judson and the Woman Missionary Female Missionary Writing 1841–1860: Jemima Thompson and the Wesleyan Ladies’ Committee Conclusion Notes 2 Missionary Self-Sacrifice in the Domestic Sphere: The Tracts and Novels of Martha Sherwood, Hesba Stretton and Dinah Craik Introduction Martha Sherwood and Hesba Stretton: Missionary Writing and the ‘Holy Child’ Character From ‘Holy Child’ to Missionary Governess Dinah Craik’s Governesses and Heroic Missionary Sacrifice Conclusion Notes 3 Novel Approaches to Missionary Sacrifice: Charlotte Brontë and Elizabeth Gaskell Introduction The Missionary Movement in Brontë’s Life Reading the Female Missionary Narrative in Brontë’s Novels Brontë’s Missionary Governess Subverting the Mid-Century Female Missionary Narrative Rejecting Self-Sacrifice Brontë as Female Missionary Writer: Re-Writing Her Life Story Elizabeth Gaskell and Ellen Nussey’s Collaboration Narrating Charlotte’s Religious Life Presenting Charlotte’s Missionary Domesticity Charlotte as Self-Sacrificing Missionary Martyr Elizabeth Gaskell’s Self-Sacrificial Heroines Gaskell’s Mission and Unitarianism Writing ‘Ruth’ as a Tale of Self-Sacrifice and Social Redemption Conclusion Notes Part II: 1880–1900 4 Missionaries of the New: Sarah Grand, Olive Schreiner and Margaret Harkness Introduction Sarah Grand and the New Woman Missionary Missionary Self-Fashioning Grand’s Inspirational New Woman Missionary Grand’s New Woman Missionary Narrative and The Heavenly Twins Olive Schreiner: Mission and Sacrifice Schreiner’s Self-Sacrificial Feminist Missionaries The Heroic Self-Sacrificial New Woman Missionary in The Story of an African Farm Margaret Harkness, New Woman Missionaries and the Salvation Army Harkness’s Philosophy and the New Woman Missionary In Darkest London: Salvation Army Lasses and New Woman Missionaries Conclusion Notes 5 Women, Religion and Power: University Women’s Missionary Writing Introduction Constance Maynard and the Missionary College Principal Religious and Educational Experiences Personal Writings and Missionary Identity Maynard’s Missionary Practice Maynard’s Missionary Correspondence Missionary Culture and the Women’s Colleges Religious and Missionary Collegiality College Newsletters and Collegiate Missionary Activity College Missionaries in the Field Conclusion Notes Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index "Until now, the missionary plot in Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre has been seen as marginal and anomalous. Despite women missionaries being ubiquitous in the nineteenth century, they appeared to be absent from nineteenth-century literature. As this book demonstrates, though, the female missionary character and narrative was, in fact, present in a range of writings from missionary newsletters and life-writing, to canonical Victorian literature, New Woman fiction and women's college writing. Nineteenth-century women writers wove the tropes of the female missionary figure and plot into their domestic fiction, and the female missionary themes of religious self-sacrifice and heroism formed the subjectivity of these writers and their characters. Offering an alternative narrative for the development of women writers and early feminism, as well as a new reading of Jane Eyre, this book adds to the debate about whether religious women in the nineteenth century could actually be radical and feminist"-- Provided by publisher Until now, the female missionary has appeared to be absent from 19th century literature. This book provides new readings of texts such as Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre to reveal the presence of the female missionary in 19th century writing, arguing that the character influenced cultural debates about religion, gender and domesticity Until now, the female missionary has appeared to be absent from 19th century literature. This book provides new readings of texts such as Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre to reveal the presence of the female missionary in 19th century writing, arguing that the character influenced cultural debates about religion, gender and domesticity