Reviewing Sex: Gender and the Reception of Victorian Novels

181 Pages·1996·10.911 MB·English

by  Nicola Diane Thompson (auth.)

REVIEWING SEX

Reviewing Sex
Gender and the Reception
of Victorian Novels
Nicola Diane Thompson
Senior Lecturer in the Department of English
Kingston University
MACMILLAN
©Nicola Diane Thompson 1996
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Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this
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claims for damages.
First published 1996 by
MACMILLAN PRESS LTD
Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS
and London
Companies and representatives
throughout the world
ISBN 978-0-333-62217-9 ISBN 978-0-230-37622-9 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9780230376229
A catalogue record for this book is available
from the British Library.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 I
05 04 03 02 01 00 99 98 97 96
To Caroline and Georgina

Contents
List of Plates viii
Acknowledgements lX
Illustrations: front covers of three leading Victorian periodicals X
Introduction 1
1 Reviewing and Writing: Sex and Gender 8
2 The "Virile Creator" versus the "Twaddlers Tame
and Soft": Charles Reade's It Is Never Too Late to Mend 25
3 The Unveiling of Ellis Bell: Emily Bronte's
Wuthering Heights 42
4 "Something both More and Less than Manliness":
Anthony Trollope's Reception 66
5 "The Angel in the Circulating Library":
Charlotte Yonge's The Heir of Redclyffe 87
Conclusion 108
Appendix: Victorian Periodicals-Reputation,
Readership, and Circulation 120
Notes 124
Works Cited and Consulted 143
Index 161
vii
List of Plates
1 Charles Reade, "Something Like a Novelist", from Once a Week,
20 January 1872.
2 Charles Reade at his writing table, by Charles Mercier (reproduced
courtesy National Portrait Gallery).
3 Charlotte Yonge's writing desk in her room at Elderfield
(reproduced courtesy W. T. Greene).
4 Charlotte Yonge aged 20, by George Richmond, R.A. (reproduced
courtesy National Portrait Gallery).
5 Group of contemporary writers: George MacDonald, J. A. Froude,
WilkieCollins,AnthonyTrollope, W.M. Thackeray, Lord Macaulay,
Edward Bulwer Lytton, Thomas Carlyle and Charles Dickens.
viii
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank my family, colleagues, former teachers, and
friends - all of whom, in different ways, have made this book
possible.
Two of my former teachers, R. T. Jones of the University of York
and Jim Cogan of Westminster School, are principally responsible for
my decision to pursue literary studies in general and Victorian liter
ature in particular. I am grateful to each of them as well as to subse
quent teachers and colleagues for providing me with inspirational
role models.
Many people have read and commented on numerous drafts and
revisions of this book over the last few years, and I don't think I could
have written it without them. Walter Reed's support and intellec
tual engagement from the project's inception have been invaluable.
Elizabeth Fox-Genovese's faith in the potential of this work sustained
me at some difficult moments; I'm grateful for her intellectual sup
port throughout, and in particular for her suggestions on the
Introduction. Thanks also to Jerome Beaty for advice on planning the
research, parameters, and methodology of the book. The following
people have made the last few years much easier with their encour
agement and their helpful comments on final drafts: Martin Danahay,
Tim Thompson, Tim Ray lor, Ellen Gainor, David Faulkner, and, most
of all, Thorn Bunting. And I would also like to thank John Sitter for
his inspirational wit at the 1993 Convention of the Modem Language
Association.
A grant from the English-Speaking Union allowed me to conduct
research at the British Museum Library and the London Library, and
I am grateful for their assistance. I am also indebted to Marie Nitschke
of Emory University Library for her generous help with literary detec
tive work at the early stages of this project, when I was feeling over
whelmed by the task of identifying and collecting so many Victorian
book reviews and articles.
I would like to thank Tim Farmiloe and Charmian Hearne of
Macmillan, as well as Niko Pfund of New York University Press, for
their faith in the book project. ·
A version of Chapter 3 appeared in Women's Studies: An
Interdisciplinary Journal, vol. 24, no. 4 (1995), and a version of Chapter
4 appeared in Victorian Literature and Culture, 22 (1995). I thank the
publishers of these journals for permission to reprint.
ix