Plain and ugly Janes : the rise of the ugly woman in contemporary American fiction / Charlotte M. Wright.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Wright, Charlotte M.

Series:

Literary criticism and cultural theory

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Women in literature.

American fiction--20th century--History and criticism.

American fiction.

Ugliness in literature.

Feminine beauty (Aesthetics) in literature.

Body image in literature.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (153 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Iowa City : University of Iowa Press, 2006.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

"If beauty is truth, is ugliness falsehood and deception? If all art need concern itself with is beauty, what need have we to explore in our literature the nature and consequences of ugliness?" In Plain and Ugly Janes, Charlotte Wright defines and explores the ramifications of a new character type in twentieth-century American literature, the "ugly woman," whose roots can be traced to the Old Maid/Spinster character of the nineteenth century. During the 1970's, stories began to appear in which the ugly woman is a figure of power-heroic not in the traditional old maid's way of quiet, passive...

Contents:

Contents; Preface; Acknowledgments; Part One: The Nature of Ugliness; 1. Nineteenth-Century Precedents; 2. Descriptions of Ugliness; Part Two: The Consequences of Ugliness; 3. The Effect of Ugliness on the Self; 4. The Effect of Ugliness on Relations with Others; Part Three: Ugly Women in Contemporary American Fiction; 5. Adjusting the Stereotype; 6. Anger, Sex and Fate; 7. The Rise of the Ugly Woman; 8. Becoming Something Powerful; Bibliography; Index

Notes:

First published in 2000 by Garland Publishing, Inc.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781138878440

1138878448

9781135706029

1135706026

9781315054087

1315054086

9781306344760

130634476X

9781135706098

1135706093

9781587297779

1587297779

OCLC:

297119368