The New Woman Gothic

Reconfigurations of Distress

PATRICIA MURPHY

340 pages

Published: March 2016

ISBN: 9780826220677

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Price: $55.00

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About This Book: Drawing from and reworking Gothic conventions, the New Woman version is marshaled during a tumultuous cultural moment of gender anxiety either to defend or revile the complex character. The controversial and compelling figure of the New Woman in fin de siècle British fiction has garnered extensive scholarly attention, but rarely has she been investigated through the lens of the Gothic.
Part I, “The Blurred Boundary,” examines an obfuscated distinction between the New Woman and the prostitute, presented in a stunning breadth and array of writings. Part II, “Reconfigured Conventions,” probes four key aspects of the Gothic, each of which is reshaped to reflect the exigencies of the fin de siècle. In Part III, “Villainous Characters,” the bad father of Romantic fiction is bifurcated into the husband and the mother, both of whom cause great suffering to the protagonist.
Authors and Editors: Patricia Murphy is Professor of English at Missouri Southern State University in Joplin, where she teaches British literature and other courses. Her specialty is Victorian literature, particularly the novel.
Praise For This Book: “The New Woman Gothic is a well-written and fascinating study. Murphy makes compelling arguments throughout and opens space for further exploration into New Woman Gothic fiction.”—Studies in the Novel

“This book contributes substantial new research into fin-de-siècle fiction and would be useful for students of the New Woman and Gothic alike.”—English Literature in Transition

“There is much to recommend this book: sound scholarship, interesting readings of primary works, and good writing. The concept of a “New Woman Gothic” is new and interesting, and Murphy’s record of gothic tropes in novels of the 1880s and 1890s is creative and revealing.”—Annette Federico, author of Gilbert & Gubar’s The Madwoman in the Attic after Thirty Years

“Successfully brings together two seemingly disparate genres: the gothic novel of the late eighteenth century and the New Woman novel of the late nineteenth century. An invaluable resource for advanced undergraduate and graduate student research projects.”—Victorian Studies

“Executes careful and convincing close readings of Victorian novels, which are well contextualized within their political and cultural moments. Students of late nineteenth-century fiction will gain a rich understanding of social anxieties surrounding the emergence of the New Woman.”—Women’s Writing

“A compelling and original thesis that challenges scholarly ideas about both the generic location of Gothic and its gendered significance at the fin de siècle, and it promises to open up valuable new lines of inquiry.”—Victorian Review