Gender and literary geography / Elizabeth F. Evans, Matthew Wilkens.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Evans, Elizabeth F., author.

Wilkens, Matthew, 1974- author.

Series:

Cambridge elements. Elements in digital literary studies, 2633-4399.

Cambridge elements. Elements in digital literary studies, 2633-4399

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

English fiction--History and criticism.

English fiction.

Geography and literature.

Geography in literature.

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

Physical Description:

1 online resource (89 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2025.

Summary:

Our analysis of over 20,000 books published in Britain between 1800 and 2009 compares the geographic attention of fiction authored by women and by men; of books that focus on women and men as characters; and of works published in different eras. We find that, while there were only modest differences in geographic attention in books by men and women authors, there were dramatic geographic differences in books with highly gendered character space. Counter to expectation, the geographic differences between differently gendered characters were remarkably stable across these centuries. We also examine and complicate the power attributed to separate-sphere ideology. And we demonstrate a surprising reversal of critical expectation: in fiction, broadly natural spaces were more strongly associated with men, while urban spaces were more aligned with women. As it uncovers spatial patterns in literary history, this study casts new light on well-known texts and reimagines literature's broader engagement with gender and geography.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 21 Apr 2025).

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

1-009-03409-X

1-009-03429-4

1-009-02900-2

OCLC:

1518001692