The Narrative Construction of the Female Body in the British Novel of the 19th Century

The Narrative Construction of the Female Body in the British Novel of the 19th Century

Author: Dagmar Hecher

Publisher: GRIN Verlag

Published: 2007-07

Total Pages: 141

ISBN-13: 3638705358

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Diploma Thesis from the year 2007 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: Gut, University of Vienna (Institut für Anglistik und Amerikanistk), language: English, abstract: Based on a variety of social and cultural confinements regarding the depiction of certain parts of the female body in literature, 19th century British novelists had to concentrate on those bodily attributes of women which were considered proper and decent to be displayed in writing. Answering the social rules prohibiting the public exhibition of female passions and feelings, such as sexual arousal, love or wrath, authors turned to methods of substituting the direct reference to those very emotions, thereby employing the parts of the female body they could with a clear conscience depict in their interpretations. This method of illustrating the female body in connection with women's emotional state is going to be discussed on the basis of Jane Austen's novels Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice, Charlotte Brontё's Jane Eyre and the short novel Daisy Miller by Henry James. A prominent feature of 19th century literature, used to demonstrate the interdependency of mind and body, is illness. The body suffering from physical as well as mental diseases is frequently instrumentalized by novelists as a messenger delivering information about a person's emotional condition. Additionally, 19th century authors tend to use illness as a starting point for character and plot changes as well as romantic relationships between men and women, and refer to a character's sickness as his or her lawful punishment for improper conduct. One of the most important tools for novelists in revealing their characters' thoughts and emotions is the female complexion. Frequently subject to blushing or turning pale, the female face functions as an apt communicator of a woman's mind and heart. A blush can uncover a character's romantic affections, embarrassment, guilty conscience, exciteme


Book Synopsis The Narrative Construction of the Female Body in the British Novel of the 19th Century by : Dagmar Hecher

Download or read book The Narrative Construction of the Female Body in the British Novel of the 19th Century written by Dagmar Hecher and published by GRIN Verlag. This book was released on 2007-07 with total page 141 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Diploma Thesis from the year 2007 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: Gut, University of Vienna (Institut für Anglistik und Amerikanistk), language: English, abstract: Based on a variety of social and cultural confinements regarding the depiction of certain parts of the female body in literature, 19th century British novelists had to concentrate on those bodily attributes of women which were considered proper and decent to be displayed in writing. Answering the social rules prohibiting the public exhibition of female passions and feelings, such as sexual arousal, love or wrath, authors turned to methods of substituting the direct reference to those very emotions, thereby employing the parts of the female body they could with a clear conscience depict in their interpretations. This method of illustrating the female body in connection with women's emotional state is going to be discussed on the basis of Jane Austen's novels Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice, Charlotte Brontё's Jane Eyre and the short novel Daisy Miller by Henry James. A prominent feature of 19th century literature, used to demonstrate the interdependency of mind and body, is illness. The body suffering from physical as well as mental diseases is frequently instrumentalized by novelists as a messenger delivering information about a person's emotional condition. Additionally, 19th century authors tend to use illness as a starting point for character and plot changes as well as romantic relationships between men and women, and refer to a character's sickness as his or her lawful punishment for improper conduct. One of the most important tools for novelists in revealing their characters' thoughts and emotions is the female complexion. Frequently subject to blushing or turning pale, the female face functions as an apt communicator of a woman's mind and heart. A blush can uncover a character's romantic affections, embarrassment, guilty conscience, exciteme

The narrative construction of the female body in the British novel of the 19th century

The narrative construction of the female body in the British novel of the 19th century

Author: Dagmar Hecher

Publisher: GRIN Verlag

Published: 2007-04-13

Total Pages: 136

ISBN-13: 3638623297

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Diploma Thesis from the year 2007 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: Gut, University of Vienna (Institut für Anglistik und Amerikanistk), language: English, abstract: Based on a variety of social and cultural confinements regarding the depiction of certain parts of the female body in literature, 19th century British novelists had to concentrate on those bodily attributes of women which were considered proper and decent to be displayed in writing. Answering the social rules prohibiting the public exhibition of female passions and feelings, such as sexual arousal, love or wrath, authors turned to methods of substituting the direct reference to those very emotions, thereby employing the parts of the female body they could with a clear conscience depict in their interpretations. This method of illustrating the female body in connection with women’s emotional state is going to be discussed on the basis of Jane Austen’s novels Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice, Charlotte Brontё’s Jane Eyre and the short novel Daisy Miller by Henry James. A prominent feature of 19th century literature, used to demonstrate the interdependency of mind and body, is illness. The body suffering from physical as well as mental diseases is frequently instrumentalized by novelists as a messenger delivering information about a person’s emotional condition. Additionally, 19th century authors tend to use illness as a starting point for character and plot changes as well as romantic relationships between men and women, and refer to a character’s sickness as his or her lawful punishment for improper conduct. One of the most important tools for novelists in revealing their characters’ thoughts and emotions is the female complexion. Frequently subject to blushing or turning pale, the female face functions as an apt communicator of a woman’s mind and heart. A blush can uncover a character’s romantic affections, embarrassment, guilty conscience, excitement or anger, and can be seen as an indicator of a woman’s awareness of incorrect conduct. Paleness often reflects a character’s shock or despair and is attributed to poor health. Amongst others, these factors, supported by a thorough introduction to the social, cultural and political backgrounds of the three concerned novelists, shall be discussed and interpreted in the course of this thesis.


Book Synopsis The narrative construction of the female body in the British novel of the 19th century by : Dagmar Hecher

Download or read book The narrative construction of the female body in the British novel of the 19th century written by Dagmar Hecher and published by GRIN Verlag. This book was released on 2007-04-13 with total page 136 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Diploma Thesis from the year 2007 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: Gut, University of Vienna (Institut für Anglistik und Amerikanistk), language: English, abstract: Based on a variety of social and cultural confinements regarding the depiction of certain parts of the female body in literature, 19th century British novelists had to concentrate on those bodily attributes of women which were considered proper and decent to be displayed in writing. Answering the social rules prohibiting the public exhibition of female passions and feelings, such as sexual arousal, love or wrath, authors turned to methods of substituting the direct reference to those very emotions, thereby employing the parts of the female body they could with a clear conscience depict in their interpretations. This method of illustrating the female body in connection with women’s emotional state is going to be discussed on the basis of Jane Austen’s novels Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice, Charlotte Brontё’s Jane Eyre and the short novel Daisy Miller by Henry James. A prominent feature of 19th century literature, used to demonstrate the interdependency of mind and body, is illness. The body suffering from physical as well as mental diseases is frequently instrumentalized by novelists as a messenger delivering information about a person’s emotional condition. Additionally, 19th century authors tend to use illness as a starting point for character and plot changes as well as romantic relationships between men and women, and refer to a character’s sickness as his or her lawful punishment for improper conduct. One of the most important tools for novelists in revealing their characters’ thoughts and emotions is the female complexion. Frequently subject to blushing or turning pale, the female face functions as an apt communicator of a woman’s mind and heart. A blush can uncover a character’s romantic affections, embarrassment, guilty conscience, excitement or anger, and can be seen as an indicator of a woman’s awareness of incorrect conduct. Paleness often reflects a character’s shock or despair and is attributed to poor health. Amongst others, these factors, supported by a thorough introduction to the social, cultural and political backgrounds of the three concerned novelists, shall be discussed and interpreted in the course of this thesis.

Plotting Women

Plotting Women

Author: Alison A. Case

Publisher: University of Virginia Press

Published: 1999

Total Pages: 223

ISBN-13: 9780813918952

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"Alison A. Case identifies a convention of "feminine narration" characterized by the exclusion of the female narrator from shaping her experience into a coherent, meaningful, and authoritative story. Instead, male narrator steps in to shape the narrative either within the text or in a pseudoeditorial frame


Book Synopsis Plotting Women by : Alison A. Case

Download or read book Plotting Women written by Alison A. Case and published by University of Virginia Press. This book was released on 1999 with total page 223 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Alison A. Case identifies a convention of "feminine narration" characterized by the exclusion of the female narrator from shaping her experience into a coherent, meaningful, and authoritative story. Instead, male narrator steps in to shape the narrative either within the text or in a pseudoeditorial frame

Gendered Pathologies

Gendered Pathologies

Author: Sondra Archimedes

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2005-09-08

Total Pages: 210

ISBN-13: 113592290X

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Gendered Pathologies examines nineteenth-century literary representations of the pathologized female body in relation to biomedical discourses about gender and society in Victorian England. According to medical and scientific views of the period, the woman who did not conform to the dictates of gender ideology was, biologically speaking, aberrant: a deviation from the norm. Yet, although marginalized in a social sense, the "deviant" woman was central as a literary and cultural trope. Analyzing novels by Charles Dickens, H. Rider Haggard, and Thomas Hardy alongside Foucault's notion of perverse sexualities and Herbert Spencer's model of the social organism, Archimedes argues that the pathologized female body displaces or resolves, on a narrative level, larger cultural anxieties about the health of the British as a species. While earlier feminist investigations asserted that bourgeois ideology helped to construct scientific discourses about female sexuality and social behavior, this study takes these assertions as a starting point . Examining incest, racial stereotyping, and neurasthenia, Gendered Pathologies attempts to shed light on the ways in which biological thinking permeated British culture in the second half of the nineteenth century.


Book Synopsis Gendered Pathologies by : Sondra Archimedes

Download or read book Gendered Pathologies written by Sondra Archimedes and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2005-09-08 with total page 210 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Gendered Pathologies examines nineteenth-century literary representations of the pathologized female body in relation to biomedical discourses about gender and society in Victorian England. According to medical and scientific views of the period, the woman who did not conform to the dictates of gender ideology was, biologically speaking, aberrant: a deviation from the norm. Yet, although marginalized in a social sense, the "deviant" woman was central as a literary and cultural trope. Analyzing novels by Charles Dickens, H. Rider Haggard, and Thomas Hardy alongside Foucault's notion of perverse sexualities and Herbert Spencer's model of the social organism, Archimedes argues that the pathologized female body displaces or resolves, on a narrative level, larger cultural anxieties about the health of the British as a species. While earlier feminist investigations asserted that bourgeois ideology helped to construct scientific discourses about female sexuality and social behavior, this study takes these assertions as a starting point . Examining incest, racial stereotyping, and neurasthenia, Gendered Pathologies attempts to shed light on the ways in which biological thinking permeated British culture in the second half of the nineteenth century.

The Seduction Narrative in Britain, 1747–1800

The Seduction Narrative in Britain, 1747–1800

Author: Katherine Binhammer

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2009-09-24

Total Pages: 255

ISBN-13: 113948172X

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Eighteenth-century literature displays a fascination with the seduction of a virtuous young heroine, most famously illustrated by Samuel Richardson's Clarissa and repeated in 1790s radical women's novels, in the many memoirs by fictional or real penitent prostitutes, and in street print. Across fiction, ballads, essays and miscellanies, stories were told of women's mistaken belief in their lovers' vows. In this book Katherine Binhammer surveys seduction narratives from the late eighteenth century within the context of the new ideal of marriage-for-love and shows how these tales tell varying stories of women's emotional and sexual lives. Drawing on new historicism, feminism, and narrative theory, Binhammer argues that the seduction narrative allowed writers to explore different fates for the heroine than the domesticity that became the dominant form in later literature. This study will appeal to scholars of eighteenth-century literature, social and cultural history, and women's and gender studies.


Book Synopsis The Seduction Narrative in Britain, 1747–1800 by : Katherine Binhammer

Download or read book The Seduction Narrative in Britain, 1747–1800 written by Katherine Binhammer and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2009-09-24 with total page 255 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Eighteenth-century literature displays a fascination with the seduction of a virtuous young heroine, most famously illustrated by Samuel Richardson's Clarissa and repeated in 1790s radical women's novels, in the many memoirs by fictional or real penitent prostitutes, and in street print. Across fiction, ballads, essays and miscellanies, stories were told of women's mistaken belief in their lovers' vows. In this book Katherine Binhammer surveys seduction narratives from the late eighteenth century within the context of the new ideal of marriage-for-love and shows how these tales tell varying stories of women's emotional and sexual lives. Drawing on new historicism, feminism, and narrative theory, Binhammer argues that the seduction narrative allowed writers to explore different fates for the heroine than the domesticity that became the dominant form in later literature. This study will appeal to scholars of eighteenth-century literature, social and cultural history, and women's and gender studies.

Ritual Violence and the Maternal in the British Novel, 1740-1820

Ritual Violence and the Maternal in the British Novel, 1740-1820

Author: Raymond F. Hilliard

Publisher: Bucknell University Press

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 317

ISBN-13: 0838757502

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This challenging book brings to light a mythic dimension of seventeen important eighteenth and early nineteenth-century narratives that revolve around the persecution of one or more important female characters, and offers original reading of novels by Richardson, Fielding, Burney, Radcliffe, Godwin, Austen, Scott, and others. The myth in question, which Raymond Hilliard calls "the myth of persecution and reparation," serves as a major vehicle for the early novel's preoccupation with the "mother," a mythic figure distinct from the historical mother or from the mother as she is represented in eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century maternal ideology. Hilliard argues that the myth of persecution and reparation derives from the ropos of female sacrifice in the romance tradition, and shows that this topos is central to several kinds of novels-realist, Gothic, Jacobin, feminist, and historical. Hilliard contends that the narrative of persecution and reparation anticipates the twentieth-century maternal myth associated with the work of Melanie Klein and other "relational model" psychoanalytic theorists, and he thus also examines the psychosexual significance of the "mother." Hilliard explores the relation of psychosexual themes to social representations, and delineates a new theory of plot-both tragic and comic plots- in the early novel. --Book Jacket.


Book Synopsis Ritual Violence and the Maternal in the British Novel, 1740-1820 by : Raymond F. Hilliard

Download or read book Ritual Violence and the Maternal in the British Novel, 1740-1820 written by Raymond F. Hilliard and published by Bucknell University Press. This book was released on 2010 with total page 317 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This challenging book brings to light a mythic dimension of seventeen important eighteenth and early nineteenth-century narratives that revolve around the persecution of one or more important female characters, and offers original reading of novels by Richardson, Fielding, Burney, Radcliffe, Godwin, Austen, Scott, and others. The myth in question, which Raymond Hilliard calls "the myth of persecution and reparation," serves as a major vehicle for the early novel's preoccupation with the "mother," a mythic figure distinct from the historical mother or from the mother as she is represented in eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century maternal ideology. Hilliard argues that the myth of persecution and reparation derives from the ropos of female sacrifice in the romance tradition, and shows that this topos is central to several kinds of novels-realist, Gothic, Jacobin, feminist, and historical. Hilliard contends that the narrative of persecution and reparation anticipates the twentieth-century maternal myth associated with the work of Melanie Klein and other "relational model" psychoanalytic theorists, and he thus also examines the psychosexual significance of the "mother." Hilliard explores the relation of psychosexual themes to social representations, and delineates a new theory of plot-both tragic and comic plots- in the early novel. --Book Jacket.

The Marked Body

The Marked Body

Author: Kate Lawson

Publisher: State University of New York Press

Published: 2012-02-01

Total Pages: 213

ISBN-13: 0791488624

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The ambiguities and paradoxes of domestic violence were amplified in Victorian culture, which emphasized the home as a woman's place of security. In The Marked Body, Kate Lawson and Lynn Shakinovsky examine the discarded and violated bodies of middle-class women in selected texts of mid-nineteenth-century fiction and poetry. Guided by observations from feminism, psychoanalysis, and trauma theory, they argue that, in these works, domestic violence is a crucible in which the female body is placed, where it becomes marked by scars and disfigurement. Yet, they contend, these wounds go beyond violence to bring these women to a broader state of female subjectivity, sexuality, and consciousness. The female body, already the site of alterity, is inscribed with something that cannot be expressed; it thus becomes that which is culturally and physically denied, the place which is not.


Book Synopsis The Marked Body by : Kate Lawson

Download or read book The Marked Body written by Kate Lawson and published by State University of New York Press. This book was released on 2012-02-01 with total page 213 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The ambiguities and paradoxes of domestic violence were amplified in Victorian culture, which emphasized the home as a woman's place of security. In The Marked Body, Kate Lawson and Lynn Shakinovsky examine the discarded and violated bodies of middle-class women in selected texts of mid-nineteenth-century fiction and poetry. Guided by observations from feminism, psychoanalysis, and trauma theory, they argue that, in these works, domestic violence is a crucible in which the female body is placed, where it becomes marked by scars and disfigurement. Yet, they contend, these wounds go beyond violence to bring these women to a broader state of female subjectivity, sexuality, and consciousness. The female body, already the site of alterity, is inscribed with something that cannot be expressed; it thus becomes that which is culturally and physically denied, the place which is not.

Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

Author:

Publisher:

Published: 1955-04

Total Pages: 64

ISBN-13:

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The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists is the premier public resource on scientific and technological developments that impact global security. Founded by Manhattan Project Scientists, the Bulletin's iconic "Doomsday Clock" stimulates solutions for a safer world.


Book Synopsis Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists by :

Download or read book Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists written by and published by . This book was released on 1955-04 with total page 64 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists is the premier public resource on scientific and technological developments that impact global security. Founded by Manhattan Project Scientists, the Bulletin's iconic "Doomsday Clock" stimulates solutions for a safer world.

Syphilis in Victorian Literature and Culture

Syphilis in Victorian Literature and Culture

Author: Monika Pietrzak-Franger

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2017-06-08

Total Pages: 339

ISBN-13: 3319495356

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This book addresses the evident but unexplored intertwining of visibility and invisibility in the discourses around syphilis. A rethinking of the disease with reference to its ambiguous status, and the ways of seeing that it generated, helps reconsider the network of socio-cultural and political interrelations which were negotiated through syphilis, thereby also raising larger questions about its function in the construction of individual, national and imperial identities. This book is the first large-scale interdisciplinary study of syphilis in late Victorian Britain whose significance lies in its unprecedented attention to the multimedia and multi-discursive evocations of syphilis. An examination of the heterogeneous sources that it offers, many of which have up to this point escaped critical attention, makes it possible to reveal the complex and poly-ideological reasons for the activation of syphilis imagery and its symbolic function in late Victorian culture.


Book Synopsis Syphilis in Victorian Literature and Culture by : Monika Pietrzak-Franger

Download or read book Syphilis in Victorian Literature and Culture written by Monika Pietrzak-Franger and published by Springer. This book was released on 2017-06-08 with total page 339 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book addresses the evident but unexplored intertwining of visibility and invisibility in the discourses around syphilis. A rethinking of the disease with reference to its ambiguous status, and the ways of seeing that it generated, helps reconsider the network of socio-cultural and political interrelations which were negotiated through syphilis, thereby also raising larger questions about its function in the construction of individual, national and imperial identities. This book is the first large-scale interdisciplinary study of syphilis in late Victorian Britain whose significance lies in its unprecedented attention to the multimedia and multi-discursive evocations of syphilis. An examination of the heterogeneous sources that it offers, many of which have up to this point escaped critical attention, makes it possible to reveal the complex and poly-ideological reasons for the activation of syphilis imagery and its symbolic function in late Victorian culture.

Metaphorical Practices in Architecture

Metaphorical Practices in Architecture

Author: Sarah Borree

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2023-06-23

Total Pages: 192

ISBN-13: 1000898628

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Metaphors are diversly and intricately embedded in architectural practice and discourse. Precisely for this reason, this volume argues and sets out to explore, how they can be engaged to critically interrogate architecture’s social, cultural and political dimensions – past and present – and to productively challenge and intervene with established perspectives, debates and practices. Mapping out not just potentials but also addressing the challenges, limitations and dangers inherent in using metaphors in architectural research and practice, the volume prominently illustrates the ambiguity and contradictoriness inherent in both metaphors and the process of engaging and exploiting them. Covering a broad range of historical and geographical cases and concerns, the contributions illustrate effectively that metaphors can expand or narrow our engagement with architecture, and consolidate or legitimise but also destabilise and challenge established social, cultural, disciplinary and political structures, concepts and categories. With its aim to explore metaphors as both subject and method to critically challenge and expand established practices, perspectives and standards in architectural research and practice, the volume will be of interest for scholars working across the architectural humanities, including architectural history, theory, culture, design and urbanism, as well as for researchers concerned with architecture and the city from fields such as cultural, visual and area studies as well as art history.


Book Synopsis Metaphorical Practices in Architecture by : Sarah Borree

Download or read book Metaphorical Practices in Architecture written by Sarah Borree and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2023-06-23 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Metaphors are diversly and intricately embedded in architectural practice and discourse. Precisely for this reason, this volume argues and sets out to explore, how they can be engaged to critically interrogate architecture’s social, cultural and political dimensions – past and present – and to productively challenge and intervene with established perspectives, debates and practices. Mapping out not just potentials but also addressing the challenges, limitations and dangers inherent in using metaphors in architectural research and practice, the volume prominently illustrates the ambiguity and contradictoriness inherent in both metaphors and the process of engaging and exploiting them. Covering a broad range of historical and geographical cases and concerns, the contributions illustrate effectively that metaphors can expand or narrow our engagement with architecture, and consolidate or legitimise but also destabilise and challenge established social, cultural, disciplinary and political structures, concepts and categories. With its aim to explore metaphors as both subject and method to critically challenge and expand established practices, perspectives and standards in architectural research and practice, the volume will be of interest for scholars working across the architectural humanities, including architectural history, theory, culture, design and urbanism, as well as for researchers concerned with architecture and the city from fields such as cultural, visual and area studies as well as art history.