Hysterical Fictions: The 'Woman's Novel' in the Twentieth Century [Hardcover]

Clare Hanson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 4, 2000

The woman's novel is a genre which sits uneasily between high and low culture. In this book it is argued that this hybrid status reflects the ambivalent position of its authors and readers, as educated women caught between identification with a male-gendered intellectual culture and a counter-experience of female embodiment. Through six case studies, the representation of a "mind/body" problem is explored in the fiction of Rosamond Lehmann, Elizabeth Bowen, Elizabeth Taylor, Margaret Drabble, A.S. Byatt, and Anita Brookner.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'In her characteristically clear and knowledgeable introduction, Clare Hanson argues persuasively for the need to attend to the cultural status of fiction written by educated women, primarily for women as educated as themselves...Most interesting of all, is the unresolved tension, at the heart of all of the fiction she includes, between the notion of woman solely as the one who nurtures and the more complex possibilities afforded to the educated woman of the past hundred years.' - Kate Fullbrook, Times Literary Supplement --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

About the Author

Clare Hanson is Professor of English at Loughborough University.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 201 pages
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan (November 4, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312235291
• ISBN-13: 978-0312235291
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.7 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,099,713 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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