Women's Diaries as Narrative in the Nineteenth-Century Novel (The Nineteenth Century Series) [Hardcover]

Catherine Delafield (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 28, 2009 | ISBN-10: 0754665178 | ISBN-13: 978-0754665175

Using private diary writing as her model, Catherine Delafield investigates the cultural significance of nineteenth-century women's writing and reading practices. Beginning with an examination of non-fictional diaries and the practice of diary-writing, she assesses the interaction between the fictional diary and other forms of literary production such as epistolary narrative, the periodical, the factual document and sensation fiction. The discrepancies between the private diary and its use as a narrative device are explored through the writings of Frances Burney, Elizabeth Gaskell, Anne Bronte, Dinah Craik, Wilkie Collins and Bram Stoker. The ideological function of the diary, Delafield suggests, produces a conflict in fictional narrative between that diary's received use as a domestic and spiritual record and its authority as a life-writing opportunity for women. Delafield considers women as writers, readers, and subjects and contextualizes her analysis within nineteenth-century reading practice. She demonstrates ways in which women could become performers of their own story through a narrative method which was authorized by their femininity and at the same time allowed them to challenge the myth of domestic womanhood.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Catherine Delafield is a tutor in the Department of English at the University of Leicester, UK.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 250 pages
• Publisher: Ashgate (August 28, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0754665178
• ISBN-13: 978-0754665175
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,413,600 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.