Romantic Imprisonment: Women and Other Glorified Outcasts

by Nina Auerbach

This collection of essays (written 1967-83) is of interest because it reveals the development of a feminist criticism and the growing assuranceand daringof an accomplished scholar. The subjects include Jane Austen, Alice in Wonderland, Dickens, the Brownings, and female traditions in George Eliot, the Brontes, and Dorothy Sayers. Auerbach's essays typically move through and around a literary text into the realms of cultural myth; the most recent piece, on the actress Ellen Terry, interprets a life rather than a book and explores the expression, in a public persona, of creativity and cultural convention.

Genres: Nonfiction, Feminism

315 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1986

Reviews

[Rebeca F. · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lovely collection of essays by Auerbach that reflect her inclusive feminist view through different texts and authors such as Jane Austen, George Eliot, Charlotte and Emily Bronte, Lewis Carroll, Dickens and others. It focuses on the romantic myth of the outcast in its diverse manifestations and its evolution as well as the distance and particular use of this archetype by male and female authors. Absolutely fascinating!

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

19th Century Lit filtered through the Romantic duality of incarceration 'n' transcendence.