Access to the full content is only available to members of institutions that have purchased access. If you belong to such an institution, please log in or find out more about how to order.


New Woman Fiction (1) Marriage, Motherhood and Work


New Woman fiction left its mark on fin-de-siècle British culture, transforming the literary landscape well beyond the turn of the century; it also had a considerable impact on the formation of popular as well as political thought. ‘[T]hanks to our efforts’, Sarah Grand wrote in 1896, ‘the “novel with a purpose” and the “sex novel” are more powerful at the present time, especially for good, than any other social influence.’ By organizing their fiction around the primary concerns of the Victorian women’s movement (marriage, motherhood and moral reform; gender roles, sexuality and personal development; education and the professions; political emancipation), feminist writers created a gynocentric genre at the intersection of cultural politics and political activism, within whose framework feminist ideas could be articulated, theorized and popularized for a predominantly female mass market.

Volume Contents

  • content locked
    Front Matter
  • content locked
    Introduction By Ann Heilmann
  • To Marry or Not to Marry (A Man with a Past)
    • content locked
      [From] The Heavenly Twins [London: Heinemann, 1908; first published 1893), vol. 1, bk 1, chap. 1, [from] 14, and 15, pp. 3-7, 75-100 By Sarah Grand
    • content locked
      [From] A Superfluous Woman (London: Heinemann, 1894), pt 2, chaps 3-5, pp. 243-82 By Miss Emma Brooke
  • Sisterhood
    • [From] Ideala: A Study from Life (London: Bentley, 1889; first published 1888), preface and chaps, 2, 19, 29, and 30, pp. v-viii, 15-24, 160-166, 285,305 By Sarah Grand
      • content locked
        Preface
      • content locked
        Chapter II
      • content locked
        Chapter XIX
      • content locked
        Chapter XXIX
      • content locked
        Chapter XXX
    • 'Alison' and 'Alison Arranges a Match', in The Story of a Modern Woman (Leipzig: Tauchnitz, 1895; first published 1894), chaps. 4 and 19, pp. 44-55, 211-221 By Ella Hepworth Dixon
      • content locked
        Chapter IV
      • content locked
        Chapter XIX
    • content locked
      [From] On the Threshold (London: Edward Arnold, 1895), chap. 1,3,[from] 5, and 12, pp. 9-16, 26-39, 59-61, 119-25 By Isabella O. Ford
  • (Higher) Education and Work
    • 'A Child', 'The Central London School of Art', 'Perry Consoles', and 'In Grub Street', in The Story of a Modern Woman (Leipzig: Tauchnitz, 1895; first published 1894), chaps. 2,6,9, and 10, pp. 21-33, 68-76, 99-120 By Ella Hepworth Dixon
      • content locked
        II
        A Child
      • content locked
        VI
        The Central London School of Art
      • content locked
        IX
        Perry Consoles
      • content locked
        X
        In Grub Street
    • content locked
      [From] Nobody’s Fault (London: Lane, 1896), pt 1, chap. 1, 4-6, pp 5-31, 69-127 By Netta Syrett
  • Marriage, the Artist and a Room of One’s own
    • content locked
      [From] The Daughters of Danaus (London: Bliss, Sands & Co., 1894), chap. 34, pp. 314-24 By Mona Caird
    • content locked
      [From] The Beth Book (Bristol: Thoemmes, 1994; first published 1897), chaps. 37-38, and 40, pp. 337-59, 369-79 By Sarah Grand
  • Marriage and Motherhood
    • [From] The Daughters of Danaus (London: Bliss, Sands & Co. 1894), chaps. 18,20, and 35-36, pp. 164-74, 186-94, 325-54 By Mona Caird
      • content locked
        Chapter XVIII
      • content locked
        Chapter XX
      • content locked
        Chapter XXXV
      • content locked
        Chapter XXXVI
    • [From] A Yellow Aster (London: Hutchinson, 1894), chaps. 34-36, pp. 230-59 By Iota [Kathleen Mannington Caffyn]
      • content locked
        Chapter XXXIV
      • content locked
        Chapter XXXV
      • content locked
        Chapter XXXVI
    • content locked
      'At the Heart of the Apple' in Symphonies (London: Lane, the Bodley Head, 1897), pp. 160-218 By George Egerton
  • Mother–Daughter Relationships
    • content locked
      'Virgin Soil' in Discords (London: Lane, 1894), pp. 145-62 By George Egerton
    • content locked
      [From] The Daughters of Danaus (London: Bliss, Sands & Co. 1894), chaps. 5, 7, 12, and 38, pp. 43-54, 60-72, 109-14, 359-65 By Mona Caird
    • [From] A Yellow Aster (London: Hutchinson, 1894), chaps. 38-40, pp. 268-85 By Iota [Kathleen Mannington Caffyn]
      • content locked
        Chapter XXXVIII
      • content locked
        Chapter XXXIX
      • content locked
        Chapter XL