The Stone and the Scorpion: The Female Subject of Desire in the Novels of Charlotte Bronte, George Eliot, and Thomas Hardy (Contributions in Women's Studies)

ISBN: 0313290431

Author: Mitchell, Judith

Condition: New

About the Author JUDITH MITCHELL is Associate Professor of English at the University of Victoria, British Columbia. A frequent commentator on feminist issues and the 19th-century novel, she has published in Modern Fiction Studies, The Victorian Newsletter, English Literature in Transition, Modern Language Studies, and several other journals. Product Description Sexuality and erotic desire were important components of Victorian culture, and the novels of the Victorian era reflect the sexual attitudes of the authors and culture of that period. The Stone and the Scorpion focuses on the interplay of erotics in the novels of Charlotte Bronte, George Eliot, and Thomas Hardy. Using several extra-literary critical approaches, particularly feminist gender-relations theory, this book determines degrees of female subjectivity and desire in these novels.At the heart of the study is the belief that the disruption of conventional male-female dualities is essential to the recasting of the erotic relationship in contemporary culture. Mitchell re-reads several well-read novels by three major Victorian authors in order to analyze their symbolic construction of gender and sexuality. As a group, the novels she discusses are a recognized part of the established literary canon; they span the latter half of the 19th century; and they embody various forms of erotic desire. The book considers to what extent the novelists dare to invest their female characters with erotic subjectivity, and to what degree this investment changed over time. Review ?A recommended purchase for all libraries that serve readers of Victorian novels, and especially valuable for institutions with interest in feminist criticism, since the opening chapter will stimulate debate about feminist assumptions even where these novelists' work is not an issue. Equally important, the book is written in a jargon-free style, so that any postsecondary student with an interest in the subject should be able to grapple successfully with the author's arguments. Undergraduate and up.?-Choice"A recommended purchase for all libraries that serve readers of Victorian novels, and especially valuable for institutions with interest in feminist criticism, since the opening chapter will stimulate debate about feminist assumptions even where these novelists' work is not an issue. Equally important, the book is written in a jargon-free style, so that any postsecondary student with an interest in the subject should be able to grapple successfully with the author's arguments. Undergraduate and up."-Choice