Language of Gender and Class - Paperback / softback

The Language of Gender and Classchallenges widely-held assumptions about the study of the Victorian novel. Lucid, multilayered and cogently argued, this volume will provoke debate and encourage students and scholars to rethink their views on ninteenth-century literature Examining six novels, Patricia Ingham demonstrates that none of the writers, male or female, easily accept stereotypes of gender and class. The classic figures of Angel and Whore are reassessed and modified. And the result, argues Ingham, is that the treatment of gender by the late nineteenth century is released from its task of containing neutralising class conflict. New accounts of feminity can begin to emerge. The novels which Ingham studies are * Shirleyby Charlotter Bront * North and Southby Elizabeth Gaskel * Felix Holtby George Elio * Hard Timesby Charles Dicken * The Unclassedby George Gissin * Jude the Obscureby Thomas Hardy