Women's Domestic Activity in the Romantic-Period Novel, 1770-1820

This book examines women's domestic occupations in the Romantic-period novel at the most intimately human level. By examining the momentary thought and feeling processes that informed the playing of a harp, the stitching of a dress, or the reading of a gothic novel, the book shifts the focus from women's socio-cultural contributions through domestic endeavor to how women's day-to-day tasks shaped experiences of joy, friendship, resentment, and self. Through an understanding of domestic occupations as forms of human action, the study emphasises the inherent unpredictability of quotidian activities and draws attention to their capacity for exceeding cultural parameters. Specifically, the book examines needlework, musical accomplishment, novel reading, and sensibility in the work of Charlotte Smith, Jane Austen, and Frances Burney, giving new perspectives on established canonical works while also providing the most sustained analysis of Charlotte Smith's little studied novel, Ethelinde, to date.

Addresses needlework, musical accomplishment, reading, and the experiences of sensibility and sympathy in fiction to demonstrate how women's activity had powerful effects on diverse areas of social life Examines the novels of three of the best-known Romantic women writers Shifts the focus from the productive and cultural outputs of women's day-to-day tasks to their functions in the human experiences of joy, friendship, alienation, and desire, among others Examines how the polite sphere alternately fosters and constricts different ways of creating the self through domestic activity

Autorentext

Joseph Morrissey is lecturer in literature and academic writing at Coventry University, UK. He has previously published essays on Charlotte Smith and discourses of emotions.

Klappentext

This book examines women s domestic occupations in the Romantic-period novel at the most intimately human level. By examining the momentary thought and feeling processes that informed the playing of a harp, the stitching of a dress, or the reading of a gothic novel, the book shifts the focus from women s socio-cultural contributions through domestic endeavor to how women s day-to-day tasks shaped experiences of joy, friendship, resentment, and self. Through an understanding of domestic occupations as forms of human action, the study emphasises the inherent unpredictability of quotidian activities and draws attention to their capacity for exceeding cultural parameters. Specifically, the book examines needlework, musical accomplishment, novel reading, and sensibility in the work of Charlotte Smith, Jane Austen, and Frances Burney, giving new perspectives on established canonical works while also providing the most sustained analysis of Charlotte Smith s little studied novel, Ethelinde, to date.

Inhalt

1. Introduction.- 2. Needlework in Charlotte Smith's The Old Manor House and Jane Austen's Mansfield Park.- 3. Musical Accomplishment in Frances Burney's The Wanderer.- 4. Reading Novels in Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey.- 5. Sensibility in Charlotte Smith's Ethelinde.- 6. Conclusion.