A New Woman Reader: Fiction, Drama and Articles of the 1890s

by Carolyn Nelson (Editor)

In the 1890s one phrase above all stood as shorthand for the various controversies over gender that swirled throughout the “the New Woman.” In New Women fiction, progressive writers such as Sarah Grand, George Egerton, and Ella D’Arcy gave imaginative life to the plight of modern women―and reactionaries such as Grant Allen attempted to put women back in their place. In all the leading journals of the day these and other writers argued their cases in essays, letters, and reviews as well as in fiction. This anthology brings together for the first time a representative selection of the most important, interesting, and influential of New Woman writings.

Genres: Nonfiction, Victorian, Womens

Paperback

First published November 7, 2000

Reviews

[Sarah Allen · Rating 4 out of 5]

It has been eye opening to read firsthand the experiences of the women who paved the way for the freedoms we all have today (although there is work to do still), alongside oft repeated arguments of women's "purity" and "place" in society. It appears that the arguments are continually on a rotation. The collection is carefully arranged, with informative introductions.

[Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

A decent encapsulation in fiction, periodical articles, and drama, of the amorphous, ever-frightening, pre-ish-feminism "woman question" era. Includes both the most popular arguments for the 'new woman' ideas, or 'women's emancipation', and their equally impassioned rebuttals and parodies. Fascinating when the feminist (before the word was in use) arguments are dated and irrelevant, depressing and even more fascinating when they are just as pressing today.

[Susan Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a really good overview of New Women and the fin de siecle as a whole. Each short story is prefixed by a short biography of the author, (really helpful for essay writing), and the polititcal sources are both for and agaisnt the New Women movement. I would especially recommend this if anyone wants to focus on Sarah Grand.