Women, work, and representation : needlewomen in Victorian art and literature / Lynn M. Alexander.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Alexander, Lynn Mae.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

English literature--19th century--History and criticism.

English literature.

Needlework in literature.

Working poor--England--History--19th century.

Working poor.

Poor women--England--History--19th century.

Poor women.

Art, English--19th century.

Art, English.

Needleworkers in literature.

Sewing in literature.

Women in literature.

Poor in literature.

Sewing in art.

Poor in art.

History.

England.

Physical Description:

257 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Athens : Ohio University Press, [2003]

Summary:

In Victorian England, virtually all women were taught to sew; needlework was allied with images of domestic economy and with the traditional female roles of wife and mother -- with home rather than factory. The professional seamstress, however, labored long hours for very small wages creating gowns for the upper and middle classes. In her isolation and helplessness, she provided social reformers with a powerful image of working-class suffering that appealed to the sensibilities of the upper classes and helped galvanize public opinion around the need for reform. Women, Work, and Representation addresses the use of that image in the reform movement, underscoring the shock to the Victorian public when reports revealed that the profession of needlework was extremely hazardous, even deadly. Author Lynn M. Alexander traces the development of the symbol of the seamstress through a variety of presentations, drawing from the writings of Charles Dickens, Elizabeth Gaskell, Charlotte Elizabeth Tonna, and George W. M. Reynolds and on visual representations by Richard Redgrave, Thomas Benjamin Kennington, John Everett Millais, John Leech, John Tenniel, and Hubert von Herkomer. Written to appeal to Victorianists, women's studies scholars, and those interested in semiotics and aestheticism, Women, Work, and Representation includes twenty illustrations, most of them from periodicals of the day, which provide new insights into the lives of working women in the Victorian era.

Contents:

1 The Victorian Seamstress: Fact and Fiction 1

2 Establishing the Image 27

3 The Symbolic Image 57

4 Emigration and the Secular Saint 95

5 Acculturation 137

6 The Aesthetic Vision 183

7 Conclusion: Slaves of the Needle 209.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [241]-250) and index.

ISBN:

0821414933

OCLC:

50960882