Woman as Mediatrix: Essays on Nineteenth-Century European Women Writers

(Hardback)

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Description

This selection of essays reveals the response of nineteenth-century women writers to the industrial revolution in Europe. Although it illustrates the variety of social and cultural backgrounds of authors whose lives spanned two centuries, this volume is unified by the introductory essay which explains how the industrial revolution altered women's perceptions of their roles, rights, and places in society. Subsequent essays treat the dual rebellions of women against personal and political mores, and describe how they attempted to escape sexual and cultural constraints and effected social reform.

Reviews

A companion volume to Nineteenth-Century Women Writers of the English-Speaking World ... this collection of 15 essays focuses on European women writers, predominantly Madame de Stael and George Sand, but also such leser-known figures as Sweden's Fredrika Bremer and Germany's Louise Otto. Both collections are proceedings from a 1980 Hofstra University Conference on Nineteenth-Century Women Writers. As might be expected with this type of collection, the quality of the essays is uneven, but most offer valuable historical information and some helpful critical insights into the work of writers who are not well enough known in the US. The emphasis and orientation of the essays is feminist; the approaches to these authors are more historical than theoretical. Scholars writing on American authors will be interested in the influence of these European women on American literature. Madelyn Gutwirth's article Women as Mediatrix, ' which discusses de Stael's subversion of Rousseau's Julie in her novel Corinne, is particularly astute and has widespread implications for feminist critics. Levels: graduate and upper-division undergraduate.-Choice
"A companion volume to Nineteenth-Century Women Writers of the English-Speaking World ... this collection of 15 essays focuses on European women writers, predominantly Madame de Stael and George Sand, but also such leser-known figures as Sweden's Fredrika Bremer and Germany's Louise Otto. Both collections are proceedings from a 1980 Hofstra University Conference on Nineteenth-Century Women Writers. As might be expected with this type of collection, the quality of the essays is uneven, but most offer valuable historical information and some helpful critical insights into the work of writers who are not well enough known in the US. The emphasis and orientation of the essays is feminist; the approaches to these authors are more historical than theoretical. Scholars writing on American authors will be interested in the influence of these European women on American literature. Madelyn Gutwirth's article Women as Mediatrix, ' which discusses de Stael's subversion of Rousseau's Julie in her novel Corinne, is particularly astute and has widespread implications for feminist critics. Levels: graduate and upper-division undergraduate."-Choice

Author Bio

AVRIEL H. GOLDBERGER is Professor and Chairman of the French Department at Hofstra University.