1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910467933803321

Autore

Jones Wendy S.

Titolo

Consensual fictions : women, liberalism, and the English novel / / Wendy S. Jones

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Toronto, [Ontario] ; ; Buffalo, [New York] ; ; London, [England] : , : University of Toronto Press, , 2005

©2005

ISBN

1-4426-2772-7

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (266 pages)

Collana

Heritage

Disciplina

823/.8093522

Soggetti

English fiction - 19th century - History and criticism

Marriage in literature

English fiction - Women authors - History and criticism

English fiction - 18th century - History and criticism

Feminist fiction, English - History and criticism

Feminism and literature - Great Britain

Women and literature - Great Britain

Consent (Law) - Great Britain

Married women in literature

Liberalism in literature

Women in literature

Electronic books.

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Front matter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- 1. Married Love and Its Consequences -- 2. Virtuous Libertines and Liberated Virgins: Sir Charles Grandison -- 3. 'No small part of a woman's portion': Love, Duty, and Society in Persuasion -- 4. Feminism and Contract Theory in He Knew He Was Right -- 5. Margaret Oliphant's Women Who Want Too Much -- 6. Liberalism and Feminism: The End of the Line -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

In eighteenth and nineteenth-century England, consensual marriages became increasingly popular, according women a 'contractual



subjectivity' in which the liberal ideal of individual choice was key. Representations of consensual marriage thus provide a firm grounding for the re-evaluation of women's place within society. Because this new progressive form of marriage was based on emotion rather than considerations of status or money, it challenged the hierarchical status quo of English society that the traditional patriarchal marriage had upheld. This phenomenon shows how necessary it is to historicize evaluations of political theory; while the relationship between liberalism and feminism is fiercely debated today, it was the foundation for radical feminism and social change from early modern times through much of the twentieth century. In Consensual Fictions, Wendy S. Jones focuses on the English novel of the period to explore the relationship between married love, classic liberal thought, and novelistic form. Jones argues that these works of fiction use the mulitplot form to explore the specific set of cultural problems associated with the ways in which liberalism reconceived marriage, love, and gender by exploring alternative resolutions to cultural problems through different narrative lines.