Negotiating fame: mid-Victorian women writers and the romantic myth of the gentlemanly reviewer

Hadjiafxendi, K (2013) 'Negotiating fame: mid-Victorian women writers and the romantic myth of the gentlemanly reviewer.' In: Hadjiafxendi, K and Zakreski, P, eds. Crafting the woman professional in the long nineteenth century: artistry and industry in Britain. Ashgate, Farnham, pp. 187-205. ISBN 9781472408969

Abstract

This chapter analyses the self-fashioning of George Eliot and Mary Elizabeth Braddon as they sought to forge identities as professional women writers in the face of the difficulties caused by their long-term unmarried relationships; revealingly, both authors looked back to Romantic models of authorship from the 1820s in order to legitimate their professional status. Yet, the 'gentlemanly' authorship they evoked signified an opposition to the more commercial models of authorship that were becoming increasingly prevalent in the contemporary literary market-place; this chapter explores the paradoxes created by Braddon's and Eliot's use of pseudonyms, which, while seeking to secure and protect their professional identities, nonetheless opened them up to charges of treating their art as if it were no more than an industry.

Item Type:	Book Chapter or Section
Divisions:	School of Writing, Publishing and the Humanities
Date Deposited:	08 May 2015 15:42
Last Modified:	15 Aug 2021 09:40
URI / Page ID:	https://researchspace.bathspa.ac.uk/id/eprint/6035

	Request a change to this item or report an issue
	Update item (repository staff only)