Title: The feminine political novel in Victorian England
First published: 1998
Description: In this book, Barbara Leah Harman convincingly establishes a new category in Victorian fiction: the feminine political novel. By studying Victorian female protagonists who participate in the public universe conventionally occupied by men - the world of mills and city streets, of political activism and labor strikes, of public speaking and parliamentary debates - she is able to reassess the public realm as the site of noble and meaningful action for women in Victorian England.

Harman examines at length Bronte's Shirley, Gaskell's North and South, Meredith's Diana of the Crossways, Gissing's In the Year of Jubilee, and Elizabeth Robins's The Convert, reading these novels in relation to each other and to developments in the emerging British women's movement.

She argues that these texts constitute a countertradition in Victorian fiction: neither domestic fiction nor fiction about the public "fallen" woman, these novels reveal how nineteenth-century English writers began to think about female transgression into the political sphere and about the intriguing meanings of women's public appearances.
Subjects: Politics and government, Feminism and literature, History and criticism, Politics and literature, Feminist fiction, English, English Feminist fiction, Political fiction, English, English Political fiction, Women authors, Women and literature, English fiction, History, Ecrits de femmes anglais, Femmes et litterature, Politique-fiction anglaise, Histoire, Histoire et critique, Roman anglais, Politique et gouvernement, Feminisme et litterature, Politique et litterature, English fiction, history and criticism, 19th century, Political fiction, history and criticism
Places: England, Great Britain
Time periods: 1837-1901, 19th century
LC classification: PR878.P6 H37 1998