Ruskin's mythic queen
Subtitle: gender subversion in Victorian culture
By: Sharon Aronofsky Weltman.
Publisher: Ohio University Press
Published: 1998
Place of publication: Athens, Ohio
Language: eng
Number of pages: 214
Subjects: Ruskin, John, 1819-1900 -- Criticism and interpretation; Feminism and literature -- Great Britain -- History -- 19th century; Literature and society -- Great Britain -- History -- 19th century; English literature -- Greek influences; Mythology, Greek, in literature; Social norms in literature; Sex role in literature; Queens in literature; Myth in literature
Description: John Ruskin's prominence as the author of "Of Queen's Gardens," his principal statement of Victorian gender opposition, makes him an ideal example for analyzing the power of mythic discourse to undermine gender division. Here, Ruskin creates a vision of feminine authority that draws simultaneously upon several sources (including the goddess Athena and Queen Victoria herself) to empower women in a worldwide arena redefined as a broader version of their domestic realm.

In Ruskin's effort to promote women's expanded sphere of action, his mythmaking goes further than he anticipates: Ruskin feminizes both metaphor and language, and finally destabilizes the very notion of gender.

Ruskin's Mythic Queen demonstrates that Victorian authors and artists used myth to challenge their culture's rigid gender dichotomy. While Ruskin is usually seen as the most articulate advocate of nineteenth-century England's sharply differentiated gender roles, Sharon Weltman shows that his mythopoetic prose yields many tools to break down fixed categories of gender.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 189-206) and index.