Nineteenth-Century Short Stories by Women: A Routledge Anthology

460 Pages·1998·1.27 MB·English

by  Harriet Jump

NINETEENTH-CENTURY SHORT
STORIES BY WOMEN
This anthology brings together twenty-eight lively and readable short stories by
nineteenth-century women writers, many of which are re-published here for the first
time since their original appearance. It covers a wide range of genres, from Gothic tales
to romances, detective fiction and ghost stories, and includes short fiction by such well-
known authors as Maria Edgeworth, Mary Shelley, Elizabeth Gaskell and Margaret
Oliphant alongside stories by the less well known.
The volume includes:
• a full scholarly introduction covering such issues as the literary marketplace and
conditions of production, stylistic considerations, genre, and the relation between
short fiction and novel;
• biographies of each of the authors;
• full explanatory notes and suggestions for further reading;
• a full and wide-ranging bibliography.
As well as offering a new source of enjoyment for the general reader, the anthology
provides an invaluable resource for students and teachers of nineteenth-century women’s
writing and for those more generally interested in the history of women in society. The
bibliography of resources and further reading will enable those interested in pursuing
research on any author or topic to do so with ease.
Harriet Devine Jump is Senior Lecturer in English at Edge Hill University College. Her
recent publications include Mary Wollstonecraft: Writer (1994) and Women’s Writing of the
Romantic Period, 1789–1836 (1997). Women’s Writing of the Victorian Period, 1837–1901
will be published in 1998.

NINETEENTH-
CENTURY SHORT
STORIES BY WOMEN
A Routledge Anthology
Edited by Harriet Devine Jump
London and New York
First published 1998
by Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2001.
© 1998 Harriet Devine Jump, editorial matter and selection
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form
or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without
permission in writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Routledge anthology of nineteenth-century short stories by women / [edited by] Harriet Devine
Jump
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-415-16781-7 (hbk.: alk. paper). – ISBN 0-415-16782-5 (pbk.: alk. paper)
1. English fiction – Women authors. 2. Great Britain – Social life and customs – 19th century –
Fiction. 3. Women – Great Britain – Fiction. 4. English fiction – 19th century. 5. Short stories.
English. I. Jump, Harriet Devine.
PR1309.W7R68 1998
823´.01089287´09034 – dc21 97–23393
CIP
ISBN 0-203-00498-1 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-203-17379-1 (Glassbook Format)
For my aunt
Margaret Harris
1904–

CONTENTS
Acknowledgements ix

INTRODUCTION 1
THE LIMERICK GLOVES (1804) Maria Edgeworth 13
THE STORY OF SIR BERTRAND (1804) Anna L. Barbauld 37
COUSIN MARY (1824) Mary Russell Mitford 43
THE THREE DAMSELS (1827) David Lynsay 51
LADY EVELYN SAVILE’S THREE (1832) Catherine Gore 57
TRIALS
THE MORTAL IMMORTAL (1833) Mary Shelley 73
SEFTON CHURCH (1834) Laetitia E. Landon 87
THE MANCHESTER MARRIAGE (1858) Elizabeth Gaskell 93
EVELINE’S VISITANT (1867) Mary Elizabeth Braddon 117
SISTER JOHANNA’S STORY (1873) Amelia Edwards 129
THE MYSTERY AT NUMBER SEVEN (1877) Ellen Wood 143
A RAILWAY JOURNEY (1877) Lady Margaret Majendie 179
THE END OF HER JOURNEY (1887) Lucy Clifford 191
A WICKED VOICE (1890) Vernon Lee 229
A DREAM OF WILD BEES (1890) Olive Schreiner 253
A CROSS LINE (1893) George Egerton 259
URMI: THE STORY OF A QUEEN (1893) Cornelia Sorabji 277
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CONTENTS
THE PLEASURE-PILGRIM (1895) Ella D’Arcy 283
SUGGESTION (1895) Ada Leverson 307
A CORRESPONDENCE (1895) Netta Syrett 315
A KNOT OF RIBBON (1895) Laurence Alma-Tadema 333
AN IDYLL IN MILLINERY (1896) Ménie Muriel Dowie 341
THE SWEET O’ THE YEAR (1896) Ella Hepworth Dixon 363
ANOTHER FREAK (1896) Mary Angela Dickens 369
THE OTHER ANNA (1897) Evelyn Sharp 383
LUCY WREN (1897) Ada Radford 401
AMOR VINCIT OMNIA (1898) Flora Annie Steel 411
A STORY OF A WEDDING TOUR (1898) Margaret Oliphant 425
References and further reading 441
viii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
My thanks go to Edge Hill University College for research funds and a welcome
period of research leave: in particular, I am grateful to Professor John Simons and
Dr Gill Davies for their continued encouragement and support, and to colleagues
too numerous to mention who have helped to elucidate obscure references. I also
thank the staffs of the Bodleian Library, the British Library, the Sidney Jones Library,
University of Liverpool and the John Rylands Library, who have all been helpful.
Professor Alun Jones, as always, has my gratitude for invaluable practical help and
literary advice. Finally I must thank family and friends who have put me up, and put
up with me, during this project: they include Sophie Jump, Glyn and George
Pritchard, William, Oliver and Benjamin Key, Lucy Bovington, Peter Tong, Liz and
Anna Bhushan, and Bill and Nell Frizzell.
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