The Woman and the Hour : : Harriet Martineau and Victorian Ideologies / / Caroline Roberts.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter UTP eBook-Package Backlist 2000-2015
• VerfasserIn: Roberts, Caroline,
• Place / Publishing House: Toronto : : University of Toronto Press, , [2016]; ©2002
• Year of Publication: 2016
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource

Harriet Martineau was a major figure in the Victorian period and a prominent speaker in a number of contemporary cultural debates, including racism, atheism, abolitionism, and the status of women. Her various novels, essays, and articles generated tremendous controversy in their reception as they forced such topics of debate into the public realm.Caroline Roberts's The Woman and the Hour provides an engaging examination of seven of Martineau's most contentious texts: Illustrations of Political Economy (1832-34),Society in America (1837), Deerbrook (1839), The Hour and the Man (1841), Letters on Mesmerism (1844), Eastern Life, Present and Past (1848), and Letters on the Laws of Man's Nature and Development (1851). Building on the premise that these works serve as an important gauge of prevailing beliefs, opinions, and attitudes in Victorian society, Roberts situates Martineau's writing in its historical context and presents a sophisticated scholarly analysis of their predominantly hostile reception. Moreover, Roberts integrates close readings with meticulous archival research of periodical reviews, offering a valuable resource and stimulus for both the literary critic and the cultural historian.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction: Contexts and Controversies -- 1. Gendered Discourses and a Sociology of Texts: Illustrations of Political Economy (1832-4) -- 2. The Linguistic Structure of American Society -- 3. Realism and Feminism: Deerbrook (1839 -- 4. History and Romance: The Hour and the Man (1841) -- 5. Invalidism, Mesmerism, and the Medical Profession: Life in the Sick-Room (1844) and Letters on Mesmerism (1844) -- 6. History and Religious Faith: Eastern Life, Present and Past (1848) -- 7. Shaking the Faith: Letters on the Laws of Man's Nature and Development (1851) -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Works Cited -- Index