Margaret Oliphant / Valerie Sanders.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Sanders, Valerie, author.

Contributor:

David Milne Fund.

Series:

Key popular women writers series ; volume 1.

Key popular women writers series ; volume 1

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Women and literature--Scotland--History--19th century.

Women and literature.

Novelists, Scottish--19th century--Biography.

Novelists, Scottish.

English fiction--Women authors--History and criticism.

English fiction.

English fiction--Women authors.

Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret), 1828-1897.

Oliphant.

History.

Scotland.

Genre:

Biographies.

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

History.

Physical Description:

xi, 213 pages ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

Brighton, England : Edward Everett Root, Publishers, Co.Ltd., 2020.

Summary:

This concise new book provides close readings of both canonical and less familiar novels and articles by the novelist Margaret Oliphant (1828-97). They show how she maintained a spirited dialogue with her age, confronting its ingrained prejudices, while reinforcing some of them herself. / A prolific novelist, auto/biographer, and periodical writer, Mrs. Oliphant was also a highly contradictory figure. Not just for her apparently anti-feminist standpoint on many issues, but also for her disparaging dismissal of the 'sensation' novel of the 1860s, while freely adopting some of its features in her own writing (including supernatural tales). / This study argues that Oliphant's outlook on nineteenth-century culture was both provocative and unpredictable. Her best novels are witty, acerbic, and deeply ironic as she dismantles the sacred assumptions of the Victorian middle classes, and updates her chronicles of judgemental communities to tackle the extremes of idealism and inertia. / Oliphant was a keen observer of dysfunctional families, male professionals, and religious snobbery. She notices bodies and clothes, the touch of hands, unflattering complexions, loud colours, and limp muslins. Her widows refuse to retire into the shadows, while her men are notoriously inept and lethargic. This thorough reappraisal of the most controversial areas of her writing draws on fresh critical approaches, from clothes history to theories of embodied subjectivity, as well as the rich field of journalism studies. / Contents provisional]: Ch.1. Margaret Oliphant: 'One of those difficult cases for criticism'; Ch.2, 'General utility woman' or Critic of the Age?; Ch.3. Mothers, Daughters, Wives, Widows; Ch. 4. Mrs Oliphant's Clothes and Bodies; Ch.5. 'Only a Man': Oliphant's Masculinities; Ch.6. The Sensational and Supernatural; Ch.7. Conclusion.

Contents:

Machine generated contents note: ch. 1 "General utility woman" or Critic of the Age?

ch. 2 Mothers, Daughters, Wives, Widows

ch. 3 Mrs. Oliphant's Clothes and Bodies

ch. 4 "Only a Man": Oliphant's Masculinities

ch. 5 "What did it mean? Oh, what did it mean?" The Sensational and the Supernatural.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the David Milne Fund.

ISBN:

1912224909

9781912224906

1912224917

9781912224913

OCLC:

1079865792

Publisher Number:

99987266381