The Ends of History Victorians and the Woman Question [Paperback]

Why were the Victorians so passionate about History ?

How did this passion relate to another Victorian obsession  the woman question ? In a brilliant and provocative study, Christina Crosby investigates the links between the Victorians fascination with history and with the nature of women.

Discussing both key novels and non-literary texts  Daniel Derondaand Hegels Philosophy of History; Henry Esmondand Macaulays History of England; Little Dorrit, Wilkie Collins The Frozen Deep, and Mayhews survey of labour and the poor ; Villette, Patrick Fairburns The Typology of Scriptureand Ruskins Modern Painters  she argues that the construction of middle-class Victorian man as the universal subject of history entailed the identification of women as those who are before, beyond, above, or below history. Crosbys analysis raises a crucial question for todays feminists  how can one read historically without replicating the problem of nineteenth century history ?

The book was first published in 1991.

Introduction  1. George Eliots Apocalypse of History  2. Henry Esmond and the Subject of History  3. History and the Melodramatic Fix  4. Villette and the End of History  5. Conclusion: The High Cost of History