Ideala: A Study from Life

by Sarah Grand, Molly Youngkin (Editor)

One of the earliest "New Woman" novels, Ideala (1888) tells the story of a woman who, after making a bad marriage, must decide whether to leave her husband for another man or embrace a feminist philosophy that requires her to sacrifice personal relationships for the good of other women. Told in first-person, by Ideala's friend Lord Dawne, the novel details Ideala's journey to understanding herself and her place in nineteenth-century society. Along the way, we see her writing poetry, providing charity to the poor, falling in love, and travelling to China, all as means to figure out how to live her life in a meaningful way.

Genres: Classics, 19th Century

248 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1888

Reviews

[Dushan Milinovich · Rating 5 out of 5]

If I wore a skirt in the nineteenth century, she would be me.

[Jacob Longini · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely more of an educational read than it is an entertaining one, Grand's work communicates the many Women's Rights ideas that were circulating in the late 19th Century. Ideala represents a shift from liberal feminism to social purity feminism, something modern audiences will not find very satisfactory in the plot of the novel, but a very interesting case for scholars of women writers in the long 19th Century. The work is also interesting in its transition between the 19th Century conventions of literary realism to proto-modernist techniques that would rise in the 20th century. The introduction by Molly Youngkin (my professor of 19th Century Women's Literature) is very insightful, and her work in editing the edition as a whole is fantastic. The whole novel is filled with helpful footnotes in which Youngkin adds rich detail regarding the cultural context behind the story. Again, not a book for those looking to be entertained, but an essential read for scholars interested in related content.

[darcy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Opening Line: She came among us without flourish of trumpets.

Rating: 2.5/5 Stars