Mistress of the House (The Nineteenth Century Series) - Softcover

Dolin, Tim

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1138267449 ISBN 13: 9781138267442

Publisher: Routledge, 2016

Synopsis

This exploration of gender and property ownership in eight important novels argues that property is a decisive undercurrent in narrative structures and modes, as well as an important gender signature in society and culture. Tim Dolin suggests that the formal development of nineteenth-century domestic fiction can only be understood in the context of changes in the theory and laws of property: indeed femininity and its representation cannot be considered separately from property relations and their reform. He presents original readings of novels in which a woman owns, acquires or loses property, focusing on exchanges between patriarchal cultural authority, the 'woman question' and narrative form, and on the place of domestic fiction in a culture in which property relations and gender relations are subject to radical review. Each chapter revolves around a representative text, but refers substantially to other material, both other novels and contemporary social, legal, political and feminist commentary.

About this title

About the Author:

Tim Dolin, University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia

Review:

'the readings of [Dolin's] chosen works..are attentive to both important textual details and relevant historical contexts.' Nineteenth-Century Literature 'Dolin does not make sustained arguements so much as a series of fine distinctions and evocative insights. But these critical coruscations are so smart, stylish, and thought-provoking, that they are bound to light up bigger ideas for each reader. It is an eciting addition to a rapidly growing field.' Talia Schaffer, Victorian Studies

About this edition

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1138267449
• ISBN 13: 9781138267442
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 168