Title: Aristocratic women and the literary nation, 1832-1867
First published: 2009
Description: "Aristocratic Women and the Literary Nation, 7832-7867 offers a literary complement to recent historians' emphasis upon the cultural visibility and significance of the British aristocracy during the Victorian period. Aristocratic women benefited from a leisured model of socialised dilettante interaction that allowed them both to maintain and to market their high social status through their writing, but this model could prove a liability in attempts at serious social and/or intellectual engagement. Instead, these women became targets for critiques aimed at defining certain forms of individual and national identity, even as they themselves adapted to changing value schemes. Aristocratic women's writing therefore offers an important literary and cultural trope through which to consider gendered models of influence, elite identities, the nature of politics, private and public spheres, marriage, professional identities, literary hierarchies, imperial experiences, and ultimately the ongoing representation of the nation state between the Reform Bills of 1832 and 1867"--Jacket.
Subjects: History, Literature publishing, Authors and readers, Literature and society, History and criticism, Books and reading, Women and literature, English fiction, Authors and publishers, Upper class, English fiction, history and criticism, 19th century, LITERARY CRITICISM, European, English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh
Places: Great Britain
Time periods: 19th century
LC classification: PR878.W6 O25 2009