Keynotes

by George Egerton, Aubrey Beardsley

Keynotes (1893) is a collection of short stories by George Egerton, the pseudonym of Mary Chavelita Dunne (1859–1945), born in Melbourne. She spent her childhood in Ireland, where she settled for a time, and considered herself to be "intensely Irish". The stories explore relationships between women across class barriers, and include open discussions of women’s sexuality – controversial subjects at this time.

A cross line --
Now spring has come --
The spell of the white elf --
A little gray glove --
An empty frame --
Under northern sky:
I. How Marie Larsen exorcised a demon --
II. A shadow's slant --
III. An ebb tide.

Genres: Classics, Ebooks, Womens

194 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1893

About the author

Mary Chavelita Dunne Bright (born Mary Elizabeth Annie Dunne; 14 December 1859 — 12 August 1945), better known by her pen name George Egerton, (pronounced Edg'er-ton) was a "New Woman" writer and feminist. Widely considered to be one of the most important of the "New Woman" writers of the nineteenth century fin de siecle, she was a friend of George Bernard Shaw, Ellen Terry and J.M. Barrie.

Egerton's stylistic innovations, often termed "proto-modernist" by literary scholars, and her often radical and feminist subject matter[4] have ensured that her fiction continues to generate academic interest in America and Britain. Egerton's experimentation with form and content anticipated the high modernism of writers like James Joyce and D H Lawrence, and Egerton's The Wheel of God often reads as a sort of rudimentary template for Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Thomas Hardy acknowledged the influence of Egerton's work on his own, in particular on the construction of his "New Woman" character, Sue Bridehead, in Jude the Obscure. Perhaps most notably, Holbrook Jackson credits Egerton with the first mention of Friedrich Nietzsche in English literature (she refers to Nietzsche in Keynotes in 1893, three years before the first of Nietzsche's works was translated into English).

Reviews

[Jasmine A. N. · Rating 2 out of 5]

I genuinely feel so bad for rating this so low because it honestly was not bad. It had great messages and themes, and there were lines here and there that really did hit. But I think I’m just generally not a fan of this modernist style of writing. I can see why people would compare this to Woolf; the writing is indeed very stream-of-conscious, and, in my opinion, very tedious and long-winded. It’s full of long paragraphs with, again, in my opinion, very repetitive and unimportant descriptions. As I was reading, all I was wondering was ‘Why? Why? I do not see the point?’ I felt like the writing really detracted from the whole message, but it could just be that I do not understand modernist literature. I was really going to give this the benefit of the doubt, but I got to the last part and was at a point where I flipped to the next page to see how much longer this would go and when I realised it was more and more of that tedious descriptive writing, I legitimately grunted and found myself very annoyed. Is it dramatic to say I was on the verge of tears? But I basically skimmed through it all after that. Overall, the stories didn’t really have the cohesion I like to see in more contemporary works but I’ll blame that on the times. The first and fourth stories were probably my favourites (and by that I feel only neutral about them, perhaps a little thoughtfulness, only a little), but otherwise my net feelings for the collection were negative. If you like modern literature, akin to Woolf, you may like this(?) but it’s not for the likes of folks like me.

[Sam Oxford · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very tangential stories, focused largely on psychological realism/internal monologue from a woman's perspective, but when they hit they hit hard.

Favorite Stories were A Cross Line, Now Spring has Come, and A Little Grey Glove.

[Karlie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Early feminism is familiar and yet hard to understand. It’s like looking into a box and vaguely recognizing the contents. I need to understand more on Victorian culture in order fully take in more of a his kind of feminism.

[Lily Magoon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely phenomenal. It's incredibly nuanced, even when you don't consider the state of feminism at the time it was written

[rhian]

(Only read one story from this I think )

[Katie Brock · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short story collection that focuses on love with the woman taking the forefront. There is a really good focus on women’s sexuality without making them out to be dominating. I really enjoyed the stories but at one point I didn’t realise they were short stories until the narration changed from third to first person.

I enjoyed it