This article reconsiders representations of the militant suffragette in two texts by the radical ... more This article reconsiders representations of the militant suffragette in two texts by the radical writer Elizabeth Robins, Votes for Women! (1907) and her collection of political speeches and articles, Way Stations (1913). Her plea for twentieth-century women writers to create new roles for women outside those of wives and sweethearts can be read in relation to the creation of her 'exceptional' suffragette heroine, who thrives on her singleness in her 1907 play. Focussing particularly on the taboo issues of abortion and unmarried motherhood, I consider the ways in which Robins developed the fallen woman on stage narrative in the early twentieth century, and how childlessness is shown to be both necessary and problematic for the suffragette heroine. I also reassess Robins' complex commentaries on militancy and 'quiet propaganda' in her suffrage speeches and pamphlets. The meanings of militancy as a form of political protest have generated considerable discussion amongst suffrage historians and feminist critics. In 2000 Sandra Stanley Holton noted the gaps in our knowledge of the militant tactics adopted by different suffrage organizations. 1 Writing on the Women's Freedom League founded in 1907, Claire Eustance has explored the elasticity of the term, showing how it encompassed a spectrum of positions from rebellion and "non-violent resistance" to windowsmashing and arson. 2 Women writers' responses to the suffrage campaign were always informed by an awareness of different forms of political protest, raising broader questions about class, family and femininity. In this article I examine some of the diverse meanings of militancy in relation to abortion, childlessness and the differences between ordinary and exceptional women in the writing of the actress turned activist, Elizabeth Robins, linking this to her involvement with the Women Writers' Suffrage League (WWSL) formed in 1908. A reconsideration of Elizabeth Robins' political arguments about militancy and motherhood, in the context of shifting attitudes towards
... In this con-text both working-class wet-nurses and middle-class women are open to charges of ... more ... In this con-text both working-class wet-nurses and middle-class women are open to charges of maternal deviance; as Matus has argued, 'the wet ... describes the soothing pleasures of alcohol both as a way of coping with social pressures and as a form of infanticide: 'I drank to kill ...
EMMA LIGGINS AND MINNA VUOHELAINEN A "National Institution" "The Strand, to some extent, revoluti... more EMMA LIGGINS AND MINNA VUOHELAINEN A "National Institution" "The Strand, to some extent, revolutionized Magazines in this country," the hundredth issue of the Strand Magazine (1891-1950) boldly declared in 1899. 1 Since its inception in January 1891, George Newnes's heavily illustrated sixpenny monthly had offered its half-a-million readers outstanding value for money. The magazine's satisfying mix of short fiction, serialised novels, illustrated interviews, puzzles, scientific curiosities, articles about celebrities and the Royal Family, and travel writing ensured it a continued popularity well into the twentieth century. In 1966, the Strand's final editor and biographer Reginald Pound
George Gissing, the Working Woman, and Urban Culture
... Andrew Maunder. I have also benefited from the advice and support of John Spiers, Lyn Pykett,... more ... Andrew Maunder. I have also benefited from the advice and support of John Spiers, Lyn Pykett, Regenia Gagnier, Alistair McCulloch, Scott McCracken, Jenny Bourne Taylor, Louise Jackson, and Krista Cowman. Harriet Devine ...
Due to her experiences in Hector Munro’s Ambulance Corps in Belgium in 1914, Sinclair was able to... more Due to her experiences in Hector Munro’s Ambulance Corps in Belgium in 1914, Sinclair was able to comment both in her memoir and her war fiction on the ways in which middle-class women’s involvement in the new working opportunities offered by the war helped to revise ideologies of gender and sexuality, not least in terms of their occupation of the public sphere. However, her public endorsement of women’s work is at odds with contradictory attitudes to the woman worker in her fiction, who is often repositioned in the boredom of home in the final chapters. Developing critical discussions of Sinclair as a writer of spinster fiction (Pease 2012; Liggins 2014), I address the ways in which unmarried heroines negotiate their outsider non-combatant position. Narratives about the hierarchical structures of these new ambulance corps always focus on the activity of driving as a test-case for women’s fitness for war service; I argue that this can be read in terms of negotiations about gender an...
... Jennifer Carnell & Graham Law have pointed out that this stemmed from her publisher (and ... more ... Jennifer Carnell & Graham Law have pointed out that this stemmed from her publisher (and husband) John Maxwell's desire to reach a wider ... financial status at the price of artistic integrity.[10] Her attempt at a more serious work in the realist mode, Joshua Haggard's Daughter ...
... Fournier characterises the syphilitic baby as the tragic end of the hopes and dreams of the .... more ... Fournier characterises the syphilitic baby as the tragic end of the hopes and dreams of the ... 40] Fiction of the 1890s was to negotiate between the ideals of an outmoded breed of ... 44] Ibsen's obsession with the sexual behaviour of husbands echoed through the New Woman novel ...
This article reconsiders representations of the militant suffragette in two texts by the radical ... more This article reconsiders representations of the militant suffragette in two texts by the radical writer Elizabeth Robins, Votes for Women! (1907) and her collection of political speeches and articles, Way Stations (1913). Her plea for twentieth-century women writers to create new roles for women outside those of wives and sweethearts can be read in relation to the creation of her 'exceptional' suffragette heroine, who thrives on her singleness in her 1907 play. Focussing particularly on the taboo issues of abortion and unmarried motherhood, I consider the ways in which Robins developed the fallen woman on stage narrative in the early twentieth century, and how childlessness is shown to be both necessary and problematic for the suffragette heroine. I also reassess Robins' complex commentaries on militancy and 'quiet propaganda' in her suffrage speeches and pamphlets. The meanings of militancy as a form of political protest have generated considerable discussion amongst suffrage historians and feminist critics. In 2000 Sandra Stanley Holton noted the gaps in our knowledge of the militant tactics adopted by different suffrage organizations. 1 Writing on the Women's Freedom League founded in 1907, Claire Eustance has explored the elasticity of the term, showing how it encompassed a spectrum of positions from rebellion and "non-violent resistance" to windowsmashing and arson. 2 Women writers' responses to the suffrage campaign were always informed by an awareness of different forms of political protest, raising broader questions about class, family and femininity. In this article I examine some of the diverse meanings of militancy in relation to abortion, childlessness and the differences between ordinary and exceptional women in the writing of the actress turned activist, Elizabeth Robins, linking this to her involvement with the Women Writers' Suffrage League (WWSL) formed in 1908. A reconsideration of Elizabeth Robins' political arguments about militancy and motherhood, in the context of shifting attitudes towards
... In this con-text both working-class wet-nurses and middle-class women are open to charges of ... more ... In this con-text both working-class wet-nurses and middle-class women are open to charges of maternal deviance; as Matus has argued, 'the wet ... describes the soothing pleasures of alcohol both as a way of coping with social pressures and as a form of infanticide: 'I drank to kill ...
EMMA LIGGINS AND MINNA VUOHELAINEN A "National Institution" "The Strand, to some extent, revoluti... more EMMA LIGGINS AND MINNA VUOHELAINEN A "National Institution" "The Strand, to some extent, revolutionized Magazines in this country," the hundredth issue of the Strand Magazine (1891-1950) boldly declared in 1899. 1 Since its inception in January 1891, George Newnes's heavily illustrated sixpenny monthly had offered its half-a-million readers outstanding value for money. The magazine's satisfying mix of short fiction, serialised novels, illustrated interviews, puzzles, scientific curiosities, articles about celebrities and the Royal Family, and travel writing ensured it a continued popularity well into the twentieth century. In 1966, the Strand's final editor and biographer Reginald Pound
George Gissing, the Working Woman, and Urban Culture
... Andrew Maunder. I have also benefited from the advice and support of John Spiers, Lyn Pykett,... more ... Andrew Maunder. I have also benefited from the advice and support of John Spiers, Lyn Pykett, Regenia Gagnier, Alistair McCulloch, Scott McCracken, Jenny Bourne Taylor, Louise Jackson, and Krista Cowman. Harriet Devine ...
Due to her experiences in Hector Munro’s Ambulance Corps in Belgium in 1914, Sinclair was able to... more Due to her experiences in Hector Munro’s Ambulance Corps in Belgium in 1914, Sinclair was able to comment both in her memoir and her war fiction on the ways in which middle-class women’s involvement in the new working opportunities offered by the war helped to revise ideologies of gender and sexuality, not least in terms of their occupation of the public sphere. However, her public endorsement of women’s work is at odds with contradictory attitudes to the woman worker in her fiction, who is often repositioned in the boredom of home in the final chapters. Developing critical discussions of Sinclair as a writer of spinster fiction (Pease 2012; Liggins 2014), I address the ways in which unmarried heroines negotiate their outsider non-combatant position. Narratives about the hierarchical structures of these new ambulance corps always focus on the activity of driving as a test-case for women’s fitness for war service; I argue that this can be read in terms of negotiations about gender an...
... Jennifer Carnell & Graham Law have pointed out that this stemmed from her publisher (and ... more ... Jennifer Carnell & Graham Law have pointed out that this stemmed from her publisher (and husband) John Maxwell's desire to reach a wider ... financial status at the price of artistic integrity.[10] Her attempt at a more serious work in the realist mode, Joshua Haggard's Daughter ...
... Fournier characterises the syphilitic baby as the tragic end of the hopes and dreams of the .... more ... Fournier characterises the syphilitic baby as the tragic end of the hopes and dreams of the ... 40] Fiction of the 1890s was to negotiate between the ideals of an outmoded breed of ... 44] Ibsen's obsession with the sexual behaviour of husbands echoed through the New Woman novel ...
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