Greatness Engendered : : George Eliot and Virginia Woolf / / Alison Booth.

• Superior document: Reading Women Writing
• VerfasserIn: Booth, Alison,
• Place / Publishing House: Ithaca, NY : : Cornell University Press,, [2018]; ©1992
• Year of Publication: 2018
• Language: English
• Series: Reading women writing.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (313 pages).

The egotism that fuels the desire for greatness has been associated exclusively with men, according to one feminist view; yet many women cannot suppress the need to strive for greatness. In this forceful and compelling book, Alison Booth traces through the novels, essays, and other writings of George Eliot and Virginia Woolf radically conflicting attitudes on the part of each toward the possibility of feminine greatness. Examining the achievements of Eliot and Woolf in their social contexts, she provides a challenging model of feminist historical criticism.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Preface -- Frequently Cited Works -- Introduction: The Great Woman Writer, the Canon, and Feminist Tradition -- 1 . Something to Do: The Ideology o f Influence and the Context of Contemporary Feminism -- 2. The Burden of Personality: Biographical Criticism and Narrative Strategy -- 3. Eliot and Woolf as Historians of the Common Life -- 4. Miracles in Fetters: Heroism and the Selfless Ideal -- 5. Trespassing in Cultural History: The Heroines of Romola and Orlando -- 6. "God was cruel when he made women" : Felix Holt and The Years -- 7. "The Ancient Consciousness of Woman": A Feminist Archaeology of Daniel Deronda and Between the Acts -- Works Cited -- Index