Reading for the Law: British Literary History and Gender Advocacy

320 Pages·2010·1.09 MB·English

by  Christine L. Krueger

Reading for the Law
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Victorian Literature and Culture Series
Jerome J. McGann and Herbert F. Tucker, Editors
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Reading for the Law
British Literary History
and Gender Advocacy
, , ,
christine l. krueger
University of Virginia Press
charlottesville and london
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University of Virginia Press
© 2010 by the Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper
First published 2010
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Krueger, Christine L.
Reading for the law : British literary history and gender advocacy /
Christine L. Krueger.
p. cm. (Victorian literature and culture series)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8139-2893-7 (cloth : alk. paper)—ISBN 978-0-8139-2897-5 (e-book)
1. English literature—History and criticism. 2. Legal stories, English—
History and criticism. 3. Law and literature—Great Britain—History. 4. Law
in literature. 5. Female offenders in literature. 6. Women—Legal status, laws,
etc.—Great Britain—History. 7. Sex discrimination against women—Law
and legislation—Great Britain—History. 8. Feminist jurisprudence—Great
Britain. I. Title.
PR830.L43K78 2010
823.009′3554—dc22
2009032569
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For my father, William R. Krueger,
and my teacher and friend, Bertrand A. Goldgar
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Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction: Theory, Advocacy, and History 1
part one. Precedent
chapter one. Historiographies of Witchcraft for Feminist Advocacy:
Historical Justice in Elizabeth Gaskell’s Lois the Witch 25
chapter two. Witchcraft Precedents as Literary History:
From The Discoverie of Witchcraft to Sir Matthew Hale 53
chapter three. The Historical Turn in Witchcraft Literature:
From Enlightenment Historiography to Historical Realism 76
part two. Agency
chapter four. Theories and Histories of Agency:
Mary Wollstonecraft’s Narrative of the Reasonable Woman 101
chapter five. Agency, Equity, Publicity:
Compos Mentis in Charles Reade’s Hard Cash and Lunacy
Commission Reports 126
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viii Contents
part three. Testimony
chapter six. Gendered Credibility: Testimony in Fiction
and Indecent Assault 157
chapter seven. Women’s Legal Literacy and Pro Se Representation:
From Griffi th Gaunt to Georgina Weldon 186
part four. The Motives of Advocacy
chapter eight. Concealing Women’s Mens Rea: Advocacy
for Female Prisoners and Infanticidal Mothers 203
chapter nine. The Secret Agency of Juries: Forging Resistance
against Sodomy Prosecution 237
Notes 255
Bibliography 273
Index 291
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Acknowledgments
A
long-term project like this one benefi ts from, and is sustained
by, many mentors, colleagues, students, and friends. While I was still work-
ing on women preachers, Margaret Anne Doody and Jeffrey Spear turned
my mind to crime. Catherine McClenahan, Claudia Johnson, Andrew
Elfenbein, and Susan Sage Heinzelman read my early work on women
and the law and set me on the right path. I have benefi ted greatly from the
support of Martha Nussbaum, Susan Staves, and Richard Stein. My fel-
low fellows at the Huntington Library, especially Barbara Donagan, Kevis
Goodman, Richard Kaueper, and Jessie Matz, gave me wise and learned
advice, and lots of laughs. Wai-Chee Dimock and Judith Resnick offered
encouragement and direction at a crucial stage in the project. Alison Booth
provided essential publication advice. Conversations with Nancy Snow,
Jan-Melissa Schramm, Rohan McWilliam, Simon Petch, William Cohen,
Josephine McDonaugh, David Wayne Thomas, Joseph Kestner, George
Justice, Devoney Looser, Cliff Spargo, Amelia Zurcher, Krista Ratcliffe,
and Mary Catherine Bodden were enlightening and challenging. Sharing
a Way Klingler Interdisciplinary Teaching Award with Shirley Wiegand of
the Marquette University Law School gave me an opportunity to learn
fi rsthand how lawyers teach literature, and to try out my arguments on
law students.
Mary Jean Corbett and an anonymous reader for the University of
Virginia Press went above and beyond the call of duty in their careful
reading and insightful suggestions for revisions. Cathie Brettschneider,
humanities acquisitions editor at the University of Virginia Press, offered
enthusiastic support, sensible advice, and an expeditious editorial process.
Book production was gracefully managed by Mark Mones and Morgan
ix
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