The Romance of a Shop (Victorian) - Softcover

Levy, Amy

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1900355752 ISBN 13: 9781900355759

Publisher: Germinal Productions, Ltd/ Black Apollo Press, 2012

Synopsis

The Romance of A Shop was fist published in 1888. Praised by Oscar Wilde who thought it 'admirably done ... clever and full of quick observation,' her little novel seemed to herald a brilliant career. The book is ostensibly the story of four young ladies who, after the death of their father, decide to open a photographic studio in the heart of London's bohemia (to the dismay of their more priggish relatives). Like much of Levy's work, the novel is concerned with the contradictions besetting the 'new' Victorian woman and her quest for independence despite being constrained by anachronistic social mores and conflicting values. Written just two years before her tragic suicide, a few months short of her 28th birthday, The Romance of A Shop, has a resonance that goes beyond its apparent innocence, echoing an undertone of despair and hunger for a liberation that, to Levy's misfortune, came only some years afterwards.

About this title

From the Back Cover

The Romance of a Shop is an early “New Woman” novel about four sisters, who decide to establish their own photography business and their own home in central London after their father’s death and their loss of financial security. In this novel, Amy Levy examines both the opportunities and dangers of urban experience for women in the late nineteenth century who pursue independent work rather than follow the established paths of domestic service. By outfitting her characters as photographers, Levy emphasizes the importance of the gendered gaze in this narrative of the modern city.

This Broadview edition prints for the first time since the 1880s Levy’s essay on Christina Rossetti and a short story set in North London, both published in Oscar Wilde’s magazine The Woman’s World. Other appendices include poetry by Levy, Michael Field, Dollie Radford, and A. Mary F. Robinson, and essays on Victorian photography, literary realism, “the woman question” at the end of the nineteenth century, and the plight of women working in London.

About the Author

Susan David Bernstein is a Professor of English, Jewish Studies, and Women’s Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is the author of Confessional Subjects: Revelations of Gender and Power in Victorian Literature and Culture (University of North Carolina Press, 1997).

About this edition

• Publisher: Germinal Productions, Ltd/ Black Apollo Press
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 1900355752
• ISBN 13: 9781900355759
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 176