The Proper Lady and the Woman Writer: Ideology as Style in the Works of Mary Wollstonecraft, Mary Shelley, and Jane Austen

320 Pages·1985·16.022 MB·English

by  Mary Poovey

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The Proper Lady and the Woman Writer
WOMEN IN CULTURE
AND
SOCIETY
A Series Edited by
Catharine R. Stimpson
THE
PROPER LADY
AND THE
WOMAN WRITER
Ideology as Style in
the Works of
Mary Wollstonecraft, Mary Shelley,
and Jane Austen
MARY POOVEY
THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS
Chicago and London
1
• / ^
Ln 0 r^(y)
Mary L. Poovey is an
associate professor of English literature
at Swarthmore College.
The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637
The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London
© 1984 by The University of Chicago
All rights reserved. Published 1984
Printed in the United States of America
54321 91 90 89 88 87 86 85 84
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Poovey, Mary.
The proper lady and the woman writer.
(Women in culture and society)
Bibliography: p. 269
Includes index.
1. English literature—19th century—History and
criticism. 2. English literature—Women authors—
History and criticism. 3. Women in literature.
4. Sex role in literature. 5. Social ethics in litera¬
ture. 6. Wollstonecraft, Mary, 1759 1797 —Political and
social views. 7. Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft, 1797-
1851 Political and social views. 8. Austen, Jane,
1 775-1817—Political and social views. I. Tide.
II. Series.
PR469.W65P66 1984 823’.7’09352042 83-3664
ISBN 0-226-67527-0
IV
Contents
Foreword, by Catharine R. Stimpson vii
Preface ix
Acknowledgments xxi
.
1 The Proper Lady 3
2. Man’s Discourse, Woman’s Heart:
Mary Wollstonecraft’s Two Vindications 48
3. Love’s Skirmishes and the Triumph
of Ideology 82
4. “My Hideous Progeny”:
The Lady and the Monster 114
5. “Ideal and Almost Unnatural Perfection”:
Revising Mary Shelley 143
6. Ideological Contradictions and the
Consolations of Form: The Case of Jane Austen 172
V
7. “The True English Style” 208
Conclusion 241
Notes 247
Selected Bibliography 269
Index 281
v