Female artists and intellectuals in the late Victorian novel

Abstract

1 The late Victorian novel in which the heroine is an artist or intellectual is discussed in relation to the educational opportunities open to women in England in the nineteenth century and in the light of modern and contemporary feminist writing.

2 George Eliot's novels Middlemarch and Daniel Deronda are analyzed as establishing the themes of women as artists and intellectuals, which are developed by the novelists whose work is discussed in subsequent chapters.

3 Novels by Charlotte M Yonge, George Meredith, George Gissing, Sarah Grand, Mary Cholmondely and George Moore are analyzed in relation to women as writers and placed in the context of historical attitudes to women as writers.

4 Novels by Mrs Oliphant, Henry James and Rudyard Kipling reflect different attitudes to women as artists.

5 Novels about actresses by Mrs Humphry Ward, Henry James, George Bernard Shaw and George Moore are discussed.

6 Novels about women as musicians by George Gissing, George du Maurier and George Moore are related to the social history of women's involvement in music.

7 In conclusion questions about the relationship between the artist and society are raised and discussed with specific reference to women artists. The importance of the late Victorian novel in this context is related to historical and social pressures upon women. The continuing significance of the conflict between domesticity and self-expression experienced by women as artists and intellectuals is briefly traced through modern and contemporary novels.

Date of Award	1989
Original language	English
Supervisor	Robert Anthony Welch (Supervisor) & Michael Cotsell (Supervisor)