Molly Youngkin

Feminist Realism at the Fin De Siecle: the Influence of the Late-victorian Woman's Press on the Development of the Novel Molly Youngkin 1st edition

Through reviews of the works of important male and female authors of the decade--Thomas Hardy, Sarah Grand, George Gissing, Mona Caird, George Meredith, Ménie Dowie, George Moore, and Henrietta Stannard--these periodicals developed a feminist realist aesthetic that drew on three aspects of woman's agency (consciousness, spoken word, and action) and emphasized corresponding narrative strategies (internal perspective, dialogue, and description of characters' actions). Still, these periodicals privileged consciousness over spoken word and action and, by doing so, encouraged authors to push the boundaries of traditional realism and anticipate the modernist aesthetic.

By acknowledging the role of the woman's press in the development of the novel, this book revises our understanding of the transition from Victorianism to modernism, which often is characterized as antirealist. Late-Victorian authors working within the realist tradition also contributed to this transition, particularly through their engagement with feminist realism. Youngkin deftly illustrates this transition and in so doing proves that it cannot be attributed to antirealist narrative strategies alone.