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Appropriate fields of action : nineteenth-century representations of the female philanthropist and the parochial sphere
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Mearns, Gabrielle (2012) Appropriate fields of action : nineteenth-century representations of the female philanthropist and the parochial sphere. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.
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Official URL: http://webcat.warwick.ac.uk/record=b2680822~S1
Abstract
Literary representations of female philanthropy challenge the separate spheres
dichotomy that we continue to associate with nineteenth-century literature and
society, as the work of the philanthropic heroine instead depicts a diversity of
social spaces located between the family home and the worlds of commerce and
politics. These social spaces – one of the most important being the parish – are
represented as highly receptive to the influence of middle- and upper-class
women by the writers of my study, thereby demonstrating how female authors
could formulate the geography of their fictions to support their participation in
contemporary social debate. In this thesis I use the term ‘parochial spheres’ to
describe these spaces, which include the landed estate, the village and the
military regiment. My emphasis on parochial spheres calls attention to the
gentlewoman’s relationships with rural and provincial environments. I use the
concept of ‘borderline’ female citizenship to think about these relationships, as it
indicates the potential power of the philanthropic heroine in her community, as
well as the likelihood of power contests between the female philanthropist and
her male contemporaries.
The writers of my thesis are mainly drawn from the Victorian period. However, I
also examine works by Hannah More, and the image of the philanthropist across
the period. More is crucial to the representation of female philanthropy, as
female authors interact with a tradition of conservative reform popularised by the
Evangelical polymath at the beginning of the period. Embedded within this
tradition is the narrative of maternalism, which enables women writers to depict
their heroines as the protective conservers of the social order, but also as the
generators of new, feminised solutions to public questions of reform. These
fluctuations between conservation and reform reveal the significance of the
parochial sphere to women’s writing during the Victorian period.
Item Type: | Thesis (PhD) | ||||
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Subjects: | H Social Sciences > HQ The family. Marriage. Woman P Language and Literature > PR English literature |
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Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Women philanthropists -- Great Britain -- History -- 19th century, British literature -- Women authors, More, Hannah, 1745-1833 -- Criticism and interpretation, Heroines in literature | ||||
Official Date: | November 2012 | ||||
Dates: |
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Institution: | University of Warwick | ||||
Theses Department: | Department of English and Comparative Literary Studies | ||||
Thesis Type: | PhD | ||||
Publication Status: | Unpublished | ||||
Supervisor(s)/Advisor: | [not stated] | ||||
Extent: | 292 leaves. | ||||
Language: | eng |
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