New Man, Masculinity and Marriage in the Victorian Novel
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Group
Published: 2015
Language: eng
Number of pages: 240
ISBN-13: 9781848934917
Subjects: English fiction, history and criticism, 19th century; Men in literature; Masculinity in literature; Marriage in literature
Description: Though the term 'New Man' was not coined until 1894, this study locates earlier examples throughout the Victorian era. In the novels of Charles Dickens, Anne Brontë, George Eliot and George Gissing, characters are identified who could be classed as prototypes of the New Man. By tracing the rise of the New Man alongside novelistic changes in the representations of marriage, MacDonald shows how this figure encouraged Victorian writers to reassess masculine behaviour and to re-imagine the marriage plot in light of wider social changes.--Provided by publisher