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Benevolent despot: George Gissing's ambivalence toward his women characters in three novels

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Date Issued:
1992
Summary:
Critical estimates of George Gissing's position on "the woman question" range from "pro-feminist" to "misogynist." Three novels reveal an ambivalence that is best characterized as the attitude of a benevolent despot. In Thyrza he glorifies two female characters as respective embodiments of loveliness and wisdom. A third woman is a paragon of housewifeliness. In later novels Gissing vents the frustrations of his own unhappy marriage. The Odd Women presents two feminists advocating better education for women who do not marry, and also discusses radical ideas about marriage. In The Whirlpool Gissing reveals a patriarchal stance in his story of two married women led astray in a metropolitan "whirlpool" because of too much liberty granted by their husbands. The happiest home in the novel is a rural one with a home-loving wife and mother at its center.
Title: Benevolent despot: George Gissing's ambivalence toward his women characters in three novels.
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Name(s): Hertz, Anne.
Florida Atlantic University, Degree grantor
Hokenson, Jan W., Thesis advisor
Type of Resource: text
Genre: Electronic Thesis Or Dissertation
Issuance: monographic
Date Issued: 1992
Publisher: Florida Atlantic University
Place of Publication: Boca Raton, Fla.
Physical Form: application/pdf
Extent: 61 p.
Language(s): English
Summary: Critical estimates of George Gissing's position on "the woman question" range from "pro-feminist" to "misogynist." Three novels reveal an ambivalence that is best characterized as the attitude of a benevolent despot. In Thyrza he glorifies two female characters as respective embodiments of loveliness and wisdom. A third woman is a paragon of housewifeliness. In later novels Gissing vents the frustrations of his own unhappy marriage. The Odd Women presents two feminists advocating better education for women who do not marry, and also discusses radical ideas about marriage. In The Whirlpool Gissing reveals a patriarchal stance in his story of two married women led astray in a metropolitan "whirlpool" because of too much liberty granted by their husbands. The happiest home in the novel is a rural one with a home-loving wife and mother at its center.
Identifier: 14803 (digitool), FADT14803 (IID), fau:11592 (fedora)
Collection: FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection
Note(s): Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 1992.
Subject(s): Gissing, George,--1857-1903--Thyrza
Gissing, George,--1857-1903--Odd women
Gissing, George,--1857-1903--Whirlpool
Gissing, George,--1857-1093--Criticism and interpretation
Held by: Florida Atlantic University Libraries
Persistent Link to This Record: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/14803
Sublocation: Digital Library
Use and Reproduction: Copyright © is held by the author, with permission granted to Florida Atlantic University to digitize, archive and distribute this item for non-profit research and educational purposes. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions requires permission of the copyright holder.
Use and Reproduction: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Host Institution: FAU
Is Part of Series: Florida Atlantic University Digital Library Collections.