Oceans apart: women readers in the Nineteenth-century British and American novel

241 Pages·2011·1.08 MB·English

GRIFFIN, MARTHA BROADAWAY, Ph. D. Oceans Apart: Women Readers in the
Nineteenth-Century British and American Novel. (2011)
Directed by Dr. Mary Ellis Gibson. 233 pp.

This dissertation provides a transatlantic, historical approach to women's reading,
analyzing within that context representations of fictional women readers, bearing in mind
the cultural anxiety surrounding ―the reading habit.‖ These fictional readers contributed
to the phenomenon of ―the woman reader,‖ and representations of reading women shaped
ideas about women‘s intellectual abilities, public voices, and domestic roles. The
following chapters offer a comparative analysis of women readers in select British and
American novels to consider their cultural and political implications. Ultimately, I claim
that women readers in the American novel read to establish agency in the service of
establishing a national identity, while women readers in the British novel read to establish
agency within the domestic sphere with the aim of extending their influence into their
immediate community. While anxiety surrounding the ―woman reader‖ straddled the
Atlantic, over the long nineteenth-century she developed differently on opposite shores.
The following chapters investigate affinities between British and American texts
as well divisions resulting from divergent historical and cultural circumstances. My
investigation includes the American novels: The Coquette, Hope Leslie, The Wide, Wide
World, and Work and British novels: Belinda, Mansfield Park, Villette and The Doctor’s
Wife, to extrapolate how historical circumstances shaped and were shaped by female
literary culture of the period. These novels were chosen because they portray readers at
pivotal moments in their respective national histories. To approach how authors construct
women readers, I ask such questions as: Who is reading? What are they reading? Why
was the novel dangerous? The answers support my argument that political events,
women‘s status, and women‘s literature are intertwined and impacted by the changing
role of the household. When sociopolitical ideologies differ, the elements that ―construct‖
the woman reader change. This is where the value of a transatlantic consideration lies.
The trope of ―the woman reader‖ does not do justice to this cultural phenomenon that
shaped women, their families, and by extension, their nations.
OCEANS APART: WOMEN READERS IN THE NINETEENTH-CENTURY

BRITISH AND AMERICAN NOVEL

by

Martha Broadaway Griffin

A Dissertation Submitted to
the Faculty of the Graduate School at
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro
in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree
Doctor of Philosophy

Greensboro
2011

Approved by

______________________________
Committee Chair
© 2011 Martha Broadaway Griffin
For my sons, Will and Jack

ii
APPROVAL PAGE

This dissertation has been approved by the following committee of the Faculty of
The Graduate School at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

Committee Chair _______________________________________

Committee Members _______________________________________

_______________________________________

___________________________
Date of Acceptance by Committee

___________________________
Date of Final Oral Exam

iii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Who is reading? What are they reading? Why does it matter? It matters because
what we read impacts who we are, and we, in turn, impact the world around us. The
woman reader is not just a nineteenth-century source of anxiety – the woman reader is
among us – at the beach, on a plane, in a book club, teaching a class, and authors who
write about her have something to say. History has proven that literate women are
empowered women, and empowered women are interesting. Writing about them has been
my pleasure.
This Ph. D. would not have been possible without the support of the English
Department at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, particularly my
committee chair, Dr. Mary Ellis Gibson, who took on the role of guiding a non-
traditional, commuter student through a demanding graduate program as a mentor, friend,
and fellow Mom. I am also so thankful for Dr. Hephzibah Roskelly and Dr. Maria
Sanchez, who have donated their time, energy, and wisdom to my committee. You are
each an inspiration.
My thanks also go out to my family. Mom and Dad, two of the smartest people I
know, who have loved and supported me and always made sure I had the best education
possible. Semper Fi. Claire and Linda, who love Mr. Darcy as much as I do. My
wonderful husband, Brad, who believed I could do this and paid for it, literally. My sons,
Will and Jack, for understanding about missed games, babysitters, and Mom‘s stress.
This is ―our‖ accomplishment.

iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

CHAPTER

I. INTRODUCTION…….…………………..……………………….....................1

II. REFORMATIVE POWERS OF READING IN MARIA EDGEWORTH‘S
BELINDA AND HANNAH WEBSTER FOSTER‘S
THE COQUETTE……..................................................................................29

III. TAKING A STAND: JANE AUSTEN‘S MANSFIELD PARK AND
CATHARINE MARIA SEDGWICK‘S
HOPE LESLIE……………………………………………………………..73

IV. HOME SWEET HOME: CHARLOTTE BRONTË‘S VILLETTE AND
SUSAN WARNER‘S THE WIDE, WIDE WORLD..................................117

V. REFORM THE WOMAN, REFORM THE NATION: MARY
ELIZABETH BRADDON‘S THE DOCTOR’S WIFE AND
LOUISA MAY ALCOTT‘S WORK…….…………………………….......162

VI. CONCLUSION………….……………………………….....………..……....210

BIBLIOGRAPHY……………………………………………………………................221
v
CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

In their choices of reading material, fictional women readers make diverse
statements about ideas of domesticity and nation, terms that were particularly relevant in
the nineteenth century when both America and England were debating the ―woman
question.‖ Cultural and social debate about women‘s property rights, legal rights,
marriage, education and work occurred in intellectual circles and in print, and literature
that addresses this topic explores the competing ideologies of those who championed a
traditional, domestic role and those who supported women‘s ventures beyond the home.
This dissertation focuses on representations of women readers in nineteenth-century
novels, considering affinities between British and American texts as well divisions
resulting from divergent historical and cultural circumstances. By investigating novels
written by the American authors Hannah Webster Foster (1758–1840), Catharine Maria
Sedgwick (1789-1867), Susan Bogert Warner (1819-1885), and Louisa May Alcott
(1832-1888), and comparing them to contemporaneous fiction by British writers, Maria
Edgeworth (1767–1849), Jane Austen (1775–1817), Charlotte Brontë (1816 –1855) and
Mary Elizabeth Braddon (1837 –1915), I consider how historical circumstances shaped
and were shaped by female literary culture of this period.
This study is my attempt to understand past generations of readers and how they
continue to construct readers and influence ideas about reading today. The fictional
1
woman reader is a consistent presence in novels and a figure in constant flux. Consider
one of the most successful series of books this century, Stephanie Meyer‘s Twilight saga,
four books based on the relationship between a mortal high school girl and a century old
vampire. In the books, our cerebral heroine, Bella, reads Shakespeare and Austen, whose
plots loosely parallel events in her life. In the first book, Bella remarks that Pride and
Prejudice is her favorite book, while the second book in the series, New Moon, is loosely
based on Romeo and Juliet. The third installment, Eclipse, echoes another of Bella‘s
favorite novels, Wuthering Heights, which is alluded to so frequently that HarperCollins
redesigned the Wuthering Heights cover to reference Twilight as sales of Emily Brontë‘s
1847 classic have skyrocketed in Europe and the United States. The Twilight series itself
has sold over sixty million copies since it appeared in 2005. In the series, Bella is torn
between her obsessive love for her vampire boyfriend and her werewolf best friend, and
in the absence of a sympathetic ear, like so many of her fictional foremothers, Bella turns
to literature to make sense of life. The references to literary classics and their importance
to Bella drive home the point that fictional readers have the ability to directly influence
the reading public and the collective cultural memory.
But unlike our modern heroine, women who populate nineteenth-century novels
struggle with a lack of personal freedom. One form of emotional and sometimes physical
escape is reading, sometimes letters, sometimes the Bible, often novels – the locus of the
debate about appropriate reading for young women. Within nineteenth-century novels,
representations of women readers vary widely. To approach how British and American
authors construct women readers, it is important to consider how readers are portrayed
1