Unbecoming Women

Fülszöveg

"Rewardingiy rich in its subtle and sophisticated engagement with the Btldungsroman tradition. . . a pleasure to read, both for its formulations and its rigor. . . an excellent book, important for its timely intervention in discussions of gender and genre." — EHzabeth Langland,
The Wordsworth Circle
"Susan Fraiman argues persuasively that an antiromantic, oppositional, even subversive tradition is intrinsic to canonical 'women's fiction' — perhaps accounting for its continued vitality. She makes her case by careful, shrewd, highly readable readings of four well-loved, respected 'classics* by Frances Burney, Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte, and George Eliot. From the first chapter — about the conduct books for girls that nourished the roots of courtship novels — to the brilliant final contention that the ending of The Mill on the F/o/i challenges the ideology of Individualism as well as the genre of the Bildungsroman, Fraiman is logical and pellucid, sometimes colloquial, often... Tovább

Fülszöveg

"Rewardingiy rich in its subtle and sophisticated engagement with the Btldungsroman tradition. . . a pleasure to read, both for its formulations and its rigor. . . an excellent book, important for its timely intervention in discussions of gender and genre." — EHzabeth Langland,
The Wordsworth Circle
"Susan Fraiman argues persuasively that an antiromantic, oppositional, even subversive tradition is intrinsic to canonical 'women's fiction' — perhaps accounting for its continued vitality. She makes her case by careful, shrewd, highly readable readings of four well-loved, respected 'classics* by Frances Burney, Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte, and George Eliot. From the first chapter — about the conduct books for girls that nourished the roots of courtship novels — to the brilliant final contention that the ending of The Mill on the F/o/i challenges the ideology of Individualism as well as the genre of the Bildungsroman, Fraiman is logical and pellucid, sometimes colloquial, often witty, and always accessible. Embedded in current political and critical concerns and debates, this book is never overwhelmed or deflected by them. This is a subtle work of sophisticated literary criticism with a sound moral center — gratifying to read."
— Rachel M. Brownstein, author oi Becoming a Heroine: Rending About Women in Novels
Li :
"In these elegant rereadlngs of female novels of development, Susan Fraiman redefines the gendering of the Bildungsroman. By examining competing class narratives, contradictory Romance ideologies, and hidden homosocial subplots in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century women's fiction, Fraiman violates the Bildungsroman's staid generic boundaries and delineates new anatomies of struggle and sorrow in British women's fiction."
^ — Patricia Yaeger,
" University of Michigan
Susan Fraiman is Assistant Professor of English at the University of Virginia.
Gender and Culture Series,
Carolyn G. Heilbrun and Nancy K. Miller, General Editors
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS NEW YORK
Cover illustration: Sophie Anderson (1823-98) No Walk Todayy n.d., private collection
Cover design: Teresa Bonner
Printed in U.S.A.
ISBN D-Sai-OfiOGl-fi
9 /ou^j UÖUU y
It
9780231080019 Vissza