The Foreign Woman in British Literature. Exotics, Aliens, and Outsiders

224 Pages·2004·13.52 MB·English

by  Marilyn Demarest Button

The Foreign Woman
in British Literature
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The Foreign Woman
in British Literature
Exotics, Aliens, and Outsiders
Edited by
Marilyn Demarest Button
and Toni Reed
Contributions in Women's Studies, Number 171
GREENWOOD PRESS
Westport, Connecticut • London
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
The foreign woman in British literature : exotics, aliens, and
outsiders / edited by Marilyn Demarest Button and Toni Reed.
p. cm.—(Contributions in women's studies, ISSN 0147-104X ;
no. 171)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-313-30928-0 (alk. paper)
1. English literature—19th century—History and criticism.
2. English literature—20th century—History and criticism.
3. Women and literature—Great Britain—History. 4. Exoticismin
literature. 5. Outsiders in literature. 6. Aliens in literature.
I. Button, Marilyn. II. Reed, Toni, date. III. Series.
PR468.W6F67 1999
820.9'352042—dc21 98-41421
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data is available.
Copyright © 1999 by Marilyn Demarest Button and Toni Reed
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be
reproduced, by any process or technique, without the
express written consent of the publisher.
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 98-41421
ISBN: 0-313-30928-0
ISSN: 0147-104X
First published in 1999
Greenwood Press, 88 Post Road West, Westport, CT 06881
An imprint of Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc.
www.greenwood.com
Printed in the United States of America
The paper used in this book complies with the
Permanent Paper Standard issued by the National
Information Standards Organization (Z39.48-1984).
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 21
For Allyson Button Phillips (1957-1996) who would
have been the first to celebrate this book.
-Marilyn D. Button
and
For Terry and Bert McGraw, who sheltered, protected,
and inspired me, much like the Comox glacier that
overlooks their stunningly beautiful valley.
-Toni Reed
This page intentionally left blank
Contents
Preface ix
Introduction xiii
Marilyn Demarest Button
1. Dismantling Traditionalist Gender Roles: An Exotic Counter- 1
World in Byron's Don Juan
Frank P. Riga
2. Transforming the Stereotype: Exotic Women in Shelley's 17
Alas tor and The Witch of Atlas
John Greenfield
3. "Asia Loves Prometheus": Asian Women and Shelley's 27
Macropolitics
Eleanor Harrington-Austin
4. A Genealogy of Ruths: From Alien Harvester to Fallen Woman 45
in Nineteenth-Century England
Eve W. Stoddard
5. Imagining a Self between a Husband or a Wall: Charlotte Bronte's 67
Villette
Andrea O'Reilly Herrera
6. Challenging Traditionalist Gender Roles: The Exotic Woman 79
as Critical Observer in Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Aurora Leigh
Maureen Thum
Vlll Contents
7. "In Short, She Is an Angel; and I Am—": Odd Women and 95
Same-Sex Desire in Wilkie Collins's Woman in White
Laurel Erickson
8. Tigresses, Tinsel Madonnas, and Citizens of the World: 117
The "Other" Woman in George Eliot's Fiction
Oliver Lovesey
9. Phantoms Mistaken for a Human Face: Race and the Construction 127
of the African Woman's Identity in Joseph Conrad's Heart of
Darkness
Ode S. Ogede
10. The Foreign Woman Is a Man: Gender Reversal in 139
D. H. Lawrence's Fiction
Karl Henzy
11. Gypsy Women in English Life and Literature 145
Celia Esplugas
12. "Our Many Larval Selves": Durrell's Livia and the Cross-Cultural 159
Signal
Mary Mathew
13. A Losing Tradition: The Exotic Female of Anita Brookner's 171
Early Fiction
Marilyn Demarest Button
Afterword 183
Index 187
About the Contributors 199
Preface
Books have diverse origins. This collection began, in an important way, in the
editor's personal experience, but as it evolved, it engaged both the personal and
literary interests of many others.
My interest in the foreign woman is attributable chiefly to two factors in my
family background. First, my mother, by American standards, is a foreign
woman. She was born and raised in London, and in spite of over fifty years of
being married to an American, she retains both the speech and mannerisms of
the English. When I was growing up, for example, teatime became the single
most predictable daily event. It still is. It occurs at four o'clock sharp and is
accompanied by biscuits and conversation. During December festivities,
Christmas crackers always began the holiday meal, and until recently, when my
nieces declared their unqualified aversion, plum pudding was served as dessert.
My mother is the only person I know who can knit intricate patterns without
looking (a talent developed from her days at convent school) and who refuses to
discuss the future of the royal family because to do so would be to acknowledge
the institution's vulnerability to change. My mother's character and talents as a
homemaker flavored our childhood with the pleasures that come from blending
two cultures in one home.
Second, my father's career in the American Civil Service brought our
family into contact with people from all over the world. Some of my earliest
childhood memories include dinner parties for friends and employees of the
Voice of America, for which my father was then director (1956-1958), at our
home in Arlington, Virginia. Guests brought their native dishes of Indian curry,
Korean spare ribs, or French escargot. We enjoyed their native costumes, songs,
and language. They shared their culture and their lives, often entrusting to us
insights about the personal and political complexities of their experience in
America. Six years in Paris, France, while my father served as Public Affairs