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Cover of New Woman Fiction, 1881–1899, Part I

New Woman Fiction, 1881–1899, Part I

Edited by Carolyn W. de la L. Oulton

  • Published: 1 Jun 2010
  • DOI: 10.4324/9781851966417
  • Set ISBN: 9781851966417

Set Contents

Jessie Fothergill, Kith and Kin (1881)


She at last arrived almost at the top of the steep ascent. Here the view on either side was interrupted by high crags of grey limestone rock, rent and torn and tossed, while the herbage could scarce find a place amidst the chaos of huge stones and boulders which lay up and down, like the balls with which giants or demons had been playing some Titanic game. (below, p. 288)

From Jessie Fothergill’s 1881 novel, Kith and Kin, the quote above describes the ascent of one Judith Conisbrough, New Woman extraordinaire. She is surmounting the apex of her journey, even if she is unaware of it, and will become even less so before she becomes totally conscious of having achieved not only a lifetime victory for herself, but a historical victory for womankind, possible only because she is a heroine in a New Woman novel, the torrent of fiction between 1880 and 1920 that challenged Victorian constrictions of womanhood. Fothergill’s narrative is ‘subversive discourse’, as Rita Kranidis called it, ‘used by feminists as a medium through which to engage their readers’ sympathies and to sway popular opinion through gender relations’. And this is exactly what Fothergill’s heroine accomplishes; she proves that woman can be complete without a man, but she must fight for the same measure of independence, freedom and rights granted to men if she is to survive in a world still governed by them.

Volume Contents

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    Front Matter
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    Introduction By Brenda Ayres
  • Volume the First
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      I
      Meeting the First
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      II
      Meeting the Second
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      III
      An Interlude
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      IV
      Meeting the Third
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      V
      Out of Harmony
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      VI
      Yoresett-in-Danesdale
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      VII
      The Sisters
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      VIII
      Spectres
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      IX
      Scar Foot
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      X
      'In the Plot.'
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      XI
      A Thorny Path
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      XII
      Danesdale Castle
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      XIII
      The First Concert of the Season
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      XIV
      Disputed
  • Volume the Second
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      XV
      Judith
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      XVI
      A Landowner
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      XVII
      'Goden Abend, Gode Nacht!
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      XVIII
      Danesdale Goes to Scar Foot
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      XIX
      Looking Forward
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      XX
      'My Cousin Judith!'
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      XXI
      An Afternoon Episode
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      XXII
      An Old Wife's Tale
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      XXIII
      Aglionby's Début
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      XXIV
      'Winter of Pale Misfortune.'
  • Volume the Third
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      XXV
      'A Happy New Year to You.'
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      XXVI
      Randulf
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      XXVII
      Lizzie's Consent
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      XXVIII
      Delphine
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      XXIX
      'For My Son's Sake.'
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      XXX
      Marah.
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      XXXI
      Love and War
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      XXXII
      'Her Feet are on the Mountains.'
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      XXXIII
      Unawares
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      XXXIV
      'For the Rest of My Life.'
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      XXXV
      The Way Not Clear
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      XXXVI
      'Wait Till You Hear from Me.'
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      XXXVII
      Confession, or Explanation?
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      XXXVIII
      On Yoresett Moor
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      XXXIX
      Good-Night
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    Back Matter