The female writers of the 19th century paved the way for modern feminism through their reflections on society and culture. Among the most influential were such revolutionary English authors as Jane Austen, the Brontë sisters and Mary Anne Evans (George Eliot).
Who is the most famous female author of the 19th century?
Female Authors of the 19th Century. The female writers of the 19th century paved the way for modern feminism through their reflections on society and culture. Among the most influential were such revolutionary English authors as Jane Austen, the Brontë sisters and Mary Anne Evans (George Eliot).
How did female writers of the 19th century pave the way for feminism?
The female writers of the 19th century paved the way for modern feminism through their reflections on society and culture. Among the most influential were such revolutionary English authors as Jane Austen, the Brontë sisters and Mary Anne Evans (George Eliot). Fanny Burney's upbringing resembled that of a heroine of an 18th-century novel.
Were there any women in literature during the 19th century?
There are plenty notable women in the literature industry during the 19th century. This Women’s History Month, we provide a few of the many influential women in literature.
What is the role of women in the development of novels?
New York: Twayne Publishers, 1992. In the following essay, Gorsky describes women's dominating role in development of the realistic novel in the nineteenth century, arguing that a century filled with profound change was heavily influenced by female authors and readers.
Who were some of the important female writers of the nineteenth century?
Five Female Authors of the 19th-CenturyJane Austen (1775-1817) ... Charlotte Brontë (1816-1855) ... Elizabeth Gaskell (1810-1865) ... George Eliot (1819-1880) ... Mary Shelley (1797-1851)
Who was the most influential writer of the 19th-century?
Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849) did not live a long life, yet the work he did in a concentrated career established him as one of the most influential writers in history.
How were female authors treated in the 19th-century?
Late 18th- and early 19th-century women writers Unseemly parallels with prostitution arose regarding the notion of women writing novels which were then sold to anyone willing to pay. Derogatory terms such as 'female quill-driver' were common.
Who was the first woman author for feminist writing?
Tarabai shinde was born in Buldhana. She wrote many books and was the first author known for feminist writing. Her work, "stri" is a comparison between men and women and is considered as one of the country's modern feminist.
Who was the most famous 19th century English novelist?
Charles DickensCharles Dickens (1812 - 1870) Dickens is widely considered the greatest novelist of the Victorian era. His novels were carefully detailed and plotted, and often featured topical items from the times. Among his many famous works are A Christmas Carol, Oliver Twist, A Tale of Two Cities, and Great Expectations.
Who is the most influential author?
TOP TEN AUTHORS BY POINTS EARNEDLeo Tolstoy — 327.William Shakespeare — 293.James Joyce — 194.Vladimir Nabokov — 190.Fyodor Dostoevsky — 177.William Faulkner — 173.Charles Dickens — 168.Anton Chekhov — 165.More items...•
What was feminism in the 19th century?
In the nineteenth century, the contours of a feminist political movement became visible. Feminism became an official concept and the first feminist wave began in 1850. The spearheads of the women's movement were equality in education, labor and electoral rights.
Who is the best female writer?
15 Famous Female Writers in History. home. ... Jane Austen (1775 - 1817) ... Mary Shelley (1797 - 1851) ... Emily Brontë (1818 - 1848) ... Charlotte Brontë (1816 - 1855) ... Louisa May Alcott (1832 - 1888) ... Gertrude Stein (1874 - 1946) ... Virginia Woolf (1882 - 1941)More items...
Who is the first woman novelist in English literature?
Aphra BehnMeet Aphra Behn, The First Professional English Woman Writer.
Who was the most influential female author?
8 female authors who changed the literary worldSappho: 625 – 570 BCE. ... Murasaki Shikibu: 978 – 1014. ... Mary Wollstonecraft: 1759 – 1797. ... Phillis Wheatley: 1753 – 1784. ... Jane Austen: 1775 – 1817. ... Mary Shelley: 1797 – 1851. ... Maya Angelou: 1928 – 2014. ... Toni Morrison: 1932 – 2019.
Who was the famous feminist authors *?
Betty Friedan. Born in 1921, Betty Friedan was an American feminist writer and activist best known for The Feminine Mystique. This work sparked the period of second-wave feminism, which increased equality for women in the 1960s and 1970s.
Who is the most successful female authors of all time?
7 of the Most Influential Female Writers of All TimeJane Austen (1775-1817) ... Mary Shelley (1797-1851) ... Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) ... Ayn Rand (1905-1982) ... Agatha Christie (1890-1976) ... Ursula Le Guin (1922-2018) ... Virginia Woolf (1882-1941)
Who was the first woman to publish a book in English?
But, in their way, they were powerful women. Julian of Norwich wrote the first published book attributed to a woman in all of English literature.
When did feminist literature start?
These novels are from the first wave of feminism, roughly the 1860s to the 1940s. Some are explicitly political, making plot points of social inequalities. Others are more subtle, poking fun at society's norms or simply describing life from a female point of view at a time when that was still a radical act.
Who was the first black woman to publish a book?
Flora NwapaThe novel Efuru established Nigerian author Flora Nwapa as the first African woman to publish a book in English.
Who was one of the first successful female playwright?
“Martha Morton: America's First Professional Woman Playwright.” Theatre Survey. 23.2 (1982): 213-222.
What are Elizabeth Gaskell's most famous novels?
Tremendously popular in her lifetime, Elizabeth Gaskell now tends to be overshadowed by the Brontës and George Eliot. Cranford (1853) and Wives and Daughters (1866) have been the most acclaimed of her works, although today Mary Barton (1848), her first novel, and North and South (1855) receive more critical attention. The two pairs of novels represent Gaskell's prevailing interests as an author: provincial life and urban issues. In all of her writing, Gaskell was concerned with how individual lives play out against the pressures of history and social life.
What is the metaphor for birth in Frankenstein?
A number of feminist critics read Mary Shelley's Frankenstein as an elaborate metaphor for childbirth. They draw on the links between creativity and birth that the novel suggests, but it is true that Shelley was physically concerned with birth during the year that Frankenstein was written: She gave birth to a son six months before she began the novel, and completed it four months before the birth of a daughter. Stories of the novel's origins are often rendered in terms of birth as well: Shelley "conceived" Frankenstein on a challenge from Lord Byron and her husband, Percy Bysshe Shelley, to tell the most frightening ghost story. What Mary Shelley produced was not so much a ghost story as a meditation on the dangers of genius and creativity, and of man's responsibility to his own creations, and to the world into which he introduces them.
What books did Jane Austen write?
The four novels which were published while she lived -- Sense and Sensibility (1811); Pride and Prejudice (1813); Mansfield Park (1814); and Emma (1816) -- appeared without her name on the title page; usually their authorship was attributed only to "a lady."
What is Fanny Burney's upbringing?
Fanny Burney's upbringing resembled that of a heroine of an 18th-century novel. The daughter of musicologist William Burney, she was born into an artistic and well-connected family. Her formal schooling was minimal -- she didn't learn to read or write until at least age 10 -- but her education in decorum and conduct began at an earlier age, ...
Where did Marian Evans live?
Born Marian Evans in Warwickshire, her early life, though marked by a private education with tutors, was otherwise a typically provincial one. She lived with her brother and her carpenter-turned-land agent father. After her father's death in 1849, she traveled in Europe and settled in London, where she became associated with the Westminster Review. By the mid-1840s and into the 1850s, Eliot (still as Evans) worked extensively as a translator of contemporary philosophy, most notably of Feuerbach and Spinoza. Her life in London as an editor, reviewer, and translator brought her into contact with a rarefied intellectual community, including the empiricist Herbert Spencer, the feminist Barbara Bodichon, and the writer G.H. Lewes, with whom she lived from 1854 to 1878. (They never married at least in part because Lewes's wife would not grant him a divorce.)
Was Maria Edgeworth an Irish writer?
Maria Edgeworth is often considered either the 'Irish Jane Austen' or the 'female Sir Walter Scott,' although her writing actually influenced both. Her novels and stories fall into three categories: sketches of Irish life, commentary on contemporary English society, and instruction in children's moral training. Published between 1796 and 1834, her work is characterized by both a Scott-like Romantic attachment to the past and an Austenian wit and rationalism.
Jane Austen (1775-1817)
One of the more esteemed of all 19th-century female authors is Jane Austen, whose writing was based on the lives of British landed gentry of the time. Austen wrote her famous works in the early part of the century, including Sense and Sensibility (1811) and Pride and Prejudice (1813).
Charlotte Brontë (1816-1855)
The famous author of Jane Eyre (1847), Charlotte Brontë was the sister of Emily and Ann Brontë, who were also celebrated novelists. The three sisters from Yorkshire published their works under male pseudonyms: Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell.
Elizabeth Gaskell (1810-1865)
Aside from writing the first biography of Charlotte Brontë at the behest of the Brontë’s father, Elizabeth Gaskell wrote well-known novels such as Cranford (1851-53), North and South (1854-55) and Wives and Daughters (1865). All three of these have been adapted for BBC television in recent decades.
George Eliot (1819-1880)
George Eliot was the pen name of ferociously intelligent Mary Anne Evans, who was one of the more successful British writers of the Victorian era. She wrote seven novels, the most famous of which is Middlemarch (1871), a study of the rural life which was so familiar to her.
Mary Shelley (1797-1851)
The wife of famous Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley is best known for writing Frankenstein (1818). To some extent, she collaborated with her husband in writing the famous novel, but how much is not known. He is thought to have played an editorial role.
How does Cobbe compare to Stickney Ellis?
A comparison between Cobbe and a writer like Sarah Stickney Ellis helps to demarcate how Cobbe is producing a more powerful position for women. Ellis states in The Women of England (1837), as Cobbe would later, that the deterioration of women's moral character would render them "less influential, less useful, and less happy" (Ellis 14). Similarly, both writers underscore "disinterested kindness" (48) as one of women's primary virtues. Yet, unlike Cobbe's reformulation of domestic ideology, Ellis maintains that women's duties should be restricted or sequestered, to use Cobbe's terminology, within her private and domestic space. Ellis illustrates her preference for women's private life over public life in the following passage:
Why is Cobbe's life a spectacle of waste?
Indeed, the nineteenth-century woman's life, Cobbe states, has become a "spectacle of waste" (13), because she has been prevented from achieving her "natural happiness" (13) . Happiness for Cobbe can occur only through the completion of one's natural duties, which for women are linked to maternal femininity.
What is female intellectual distinction?
Female intellectual distinction thus suggested not only a self-destructive imitation of a male skill but also a masculine physical development. Elizabeth Barrett referred in a general way to this widespread association when she apostrophized her heroine, George Sand, as "thou large-brained woman and large-hearted man," but it was often used more snidely in allusions to George Eliot's "large hand" and "large eye"—metaphors of artistic mastery that invariably suggested to the Victorians large noses and large feet. 10 This physical imagery was further popularized by Victorian phrenologists like George Combe, who believed creative traits to be revealed by the shape of the skull. The bizarre theories of the phrenologists and the quacks were reinforced by the expertise of scientists like James Macgrigor Allan, who stated dogmatically to his fellow anthropologists in 1869 that "in intellectual labour, man has surpassed, does now and always will surpass woman, for the obvious reason that nature does not periodically interrupt his thought and application." 11 Advanced thinkers were influenced by these ideas even if they rejected them. George Eliot wondered whether women's lack of originality might be attributable to her brain structure: "The voltaic-pile is not strong enough to produce crystallization." 12 Mill, refuting the brain-weight argument in The Subjection of Women, thought it necessary to mention that the heaviest brain on record belonged to a woman. 13
Why are public duties never fundamental to a woman's life?
For Ellis, then, public duties are never fundamental to a woman's life, because they are not central to a her nature; essential feminine nature will always overpower the dutiful women's intellect. Thus, a woman remains isolated in her limited sphere. Cobbe, on the other hand, will see the "public virtues" of women more closely related to those she has in the home. 10
How many editions of Cobbe's Life are there?
See Cobbe's Life: "These lectures when printed went through three editions in England and, I think, eight in America …" (2: 549).
What does the nature of woman demand?
The nature of woman demands that to perfect it in life which must half-lame it for art. A mother's heart, at its richest, is not likely to get adequate expression in notes and bars, if it were only for the fact that she must be absorbed in other music.". 7.
What does "so great a draft made upon women by other creative works" mean?
What we mean is, that there is so great a draft made upon women by other creative works, so as to make the chance very small that the general energy shall culminate in the greatest musician, for example. The nature of woman demands that to perfect it in life which must half-lame it for art .
How many women writers are there in the novelists?
In practice, the concept of greatness for women novelists often turns out to mean four or five writers— Jane Austen, the Brontës, George Eliot, and Virginia Woolf—and even theoretical studies of "the woman novelist" turn out to be endless recyclings and recombinations of insights about "indispensable Jane and George.".
What did John Stuart Mill write about women?
Writing about female creativity in The Subjection of Women (1869), John Stuart Mill argued that women would have a hard struggle to overcome the influence of male literary tradition, and to create an original, primary, and independent art. "If women lived in a different country from men," Mill thought, "and had never read any of their writings, ...
How does literature influence society?
Literature both influences and reflects the times in which it is written, sometimes prefiguring events in society and sometimes supporting an earlier reality by suggesting that it still exists. In the nineteenth century, poetry tended to be stylized, formal, and often dissociated from social reality; an exception is Elizabeth Barrett Browning's poem about child labor, "Cry of the Children" (1844). In part because of Victorian censorship, the theater largely degenerated into imitations and revivals of eighteenth-century comedies, presentations of Shakespeare's plays suitably purged to fit new sensibilities, and banal or melodramatic contemporary works: Mark Twain's "Royal Nonesuch" parody is more apt and less exaggerated than many modern readers of Huckleberry Finn (1844) realize.
What is the meaning of "to write as men write"?
To write as men write is the aim and besetting sin of women; to write as women is the real task they have to perform. —G. H. Lewes, " The Lady Novelists, " 1852. English women writers have never suffered from the lack of a reading audience, nor have they wanted for attention from scholars and critics.
Why do novels use social data?
They use social data not necessarily to provide an accurate picture of society at a given time and place but to enhance some element of fiction. Given that purpose, they distort fact, whether consciously or unconsciously. To expect fiction to serve as a literal source of history is to ignore what makes it art. Yet, while not social documents, novels are closer to reality than most other genres.
What is the advent of female literature?
The advent of female literature promises woman's view of life, woman's experience: in other words, a new element. Make what distinctions you please in the social world, it still remains true that men and women have different organizations, consequently different experiences.…Buthitherto … the literature of women has fallen short of its functions owing to a very natural and a very explicable weakness—it has been too much a literature of imitation. To write as men write is the aim and besetting sin of women; to write as women is the real task they have to perform.
Why is fiction important in literature?
The chosen vehicle for many great writers, the novel reached the widest and most varied audience and most directly revealed social change. Because it was women who most often read and wrote novels, changing attitudes toward women's roles are most reflected in and perhaps influenced by fiction. Finally, as Virginia Woolf suggests in the words heading this chapter, many women wrote about and for themselves. Thus, the best literary source for considering women's changing roles is fiction, especially the realistic novel.
What is the Yellow Wallpaper about?
Her work called “The Yellow Wallpaper” emphasizes the importance of 19th-century social facts, individual roles, and most importantly, gender discrimination. In other words, in several of her novels, Gilman makes an effort to create a world seen from a feminist perspective. It is crucial to mention that Gilman broke taboos of the 19th– century social mentality towards women’s role through her powerful depictions, symbolic and imaginary expressions, which are still baseline elements of today’s literary world. Her novel, The Yellow Wallpaper is an example of Gilman’s works that focuses on how women are more than just the stay-at-home mothers they are supposed to be. The novel critically highlights the psychology of women after childbirth and the negative impacts of 19th-century psychological treatment given to women. In other words, Gilman pays attention to the effects of the patriarchal system on women whose aspirations require a world where women are just as important as men.
How does literature help society?
Literature is an artistic and intellectual way of not only addressing individuality but also the norms of society. For centuries, the literary world has been the cornerstone of relief of social spasms arising from disorder, passivity, and dictatorship as the reflection of the social reality. Thanks to literature’s powerful impact, it is possible to bring a new communal perspective with its critical and natural impulses. Writers, additionally, are the creators of the individual and social atmosphere. An author could build social awareness by creating a target audience instead of remaining silent. Thus, they transport community to different perspectives towards current social perception. In this regard, Charlotte Perkins Gilman was one of the most influential authors who chose the target that was the fundamental issue in 19th-century society: gender inequality.
What was the first organization dedicated to women's rights?
They were under the protection of their fathers or husbands. Coverture was increasingly criticized as patriarchal during the advent of the women’s rights movement in the mid-nineteenth century, excluding women from practicing ordinary property rights and pursuing a career. In 1869, the first organization devoted to women’s right were established: National Woman Suffrage Association. By 1890, such organizations had reached a total of 500.000 members.
Do dim shapes get clearer every day?
Behind that outside pattern, the dim shapes get clearer every day.
What did Grace Darling do to help her father?
In Britain, Grace Darling helped her father to row a little boat 1 mile through a storm to rescue 5 people from a steamship that had struck rocks. She became a heroine.
When was the dishwasher invented?
In 1886 she invented the first practical dishwasher
Who was the first woman to qualify as a doctor?
She was an American campaigner for women’s rights. Clara Barton 1821-1912. She founded the American Red Cross. Elizabeth Blackwell 1821-1910. In 1849 she was the first woman in the USA to qualify as a doctor.
Who was the first woman to discover a comet?
Maria Mitchell 1818-1889. She was an astronomer. In 1847 she became the first American woman to discover a comet. Queen Victoria 1819-1901. She was queen of Britain 1837-1901. Queen Victoria. Susan B Anthony 1820-1906. She was an American campaigner for women’s rights. Clara Barton 1821-1912.
Who were the most famous women of the 19th century?
There were many famous women 19th century. Below is a list of some of them. Elizabeth Fry 1780-1845. She was a great prison reformer. Jane Austen 1775-1817. She was a great writer. Mary Kies 1752-1837. Mary Kies was the first American woman to be granted a patent. Mary Shelley 1797-1851.
What were women of all classes in early 19th Century American history?
Women of all classes in early 19th Century American history were politically powerless and forced to conform to the dependence on males.
Why were single women and widows the most vulnerable?
Because of the social expectations that tied female dependence on men , single women and widows were the most vulnerable. Even upper middle class women were doomed to conform to patterns of daily life that were dictated by their husbands. References:
What was the status of women in the early 19th century?
The status of women in the early 19th century was shaped by economic considerations, religious beliefs, and long-held notions of female inferiority. While poor, laboring women suffered the most, the characteristics of inequality were evident in all social classes.
What was the effect of women in the working class?
One result was the use of poor class women working for cheap wages, often to augment their husband’s meager incomes. Some poor women left the cities ...
Why did poor women leave the cities?
Some poor women left the cities during periods of harvest to assist farmers needing cheap laborers. Others earned meager sums vending on city streets. Still others worked in the growing sewing trades or as domestic servants.
Why were women so vulnerable in the early 19th century?
Politically, they were powerless. Job opportunities were severely limited. Because of the social expectations that tied female dependence on men, single women and widows were the most vulnerable. Even upper middle class women were doomed to conform to patterns of daily life that were dictated by their husbands.
What was the impact of the Protestant Theological Shifts?
Impact of Protestant Theological Shifts. By the early 19th century, Protestantism had discarded earlier notions of man’s relationship to God. This was particularly true of the Calvinist principle of predestination. Religion focused on an individual relationship with God and placed on man a greater sense of controlling one’s destiny.
What it Meant to be a Mental Patient in the 19th Century?from medium.com
In the 1900s, Psychiatric hospitals were known as lunatic asylums or insane asylums. And officials there would lock up patients against their will, despite having few ideas about how to properly treat their problems.
What did doctors do in the mid-nineteenth century?from epigee.org
The mid-nineteenth century saw a rush of doctors studying mental health issues, and experimenting on mentally ill patients. Since there was little formal training available for these doctors, many randomly followed their own beliefs regarding mental illness and tested their theories-no matter how wild or weird-on mentally ill patients in asylums. One example of one of these bizarre experiments was dubbed the Rotary Chair-the patient was strapped in a suspended chair, then spun around rapidly at a high rate of speed, causing them extreme fright and obvious discomfort in an attempt to "reset" their brain. Doctors of this era believed women were more likely to develop mental illness, most especially if she attempted to improve her station by seeking education or engaging in "too many activities."
What was the disease in women's souls before 1800?from epigee.org
Prior to the middle 1800's, women who suffered from depression or mental illness were believed to have a disease in their soul-in other words a form of evil for which there was no help or solution.
What is hysteria in the 19th century?from gver2013.wordpress.com
Hysteria was characterized by manifestations of fits, fainting, choking, sobbing, laughing or paralysis etc. By the end of the 19th century, the word hysterical, was associated only with women. Here again the illness was linked to the menses and particularly to young women.
What was the first law to regulate madhouses?from ashfordstpeters.nhs.uk
The 1774 Lunacy Act saw the beginning of regulation with medical certificates from two separate doctors being required before a person could be committed, madhouses had to be registered and annually inspected, and a register of all inmates had to be held by a central authority.
Why were women infantilized?from gver2013.wordpress.com
As women began to assert their independence from their husbands, and support rights for women such as suffrage and education , often the resulting backlash was to deem them mentally ill. Women were infantilized at this time with names for their mental maladies that included Peurperal insanity, Hysteria, and Neurasthenia.
What did Mitchell believe about the cure?from gver2013.wordpress.com
The belief was, that by secluding the patient from all family, and only being seen by the attending psychiatrist, she will be solely dependent and compliant with him.