The Woman Reader, 1837-1914 [Paperback]

This book is an original and fascinating look at the topos of the woman reader and its functioning in cultural debate between the accession of Queen Victoria and the First World War. The issue of women and reading--what they should read; what they should be protected from; how, what, and when they should read--was the focus of lively discussion in the nineteenth century in a wide range of media. Flint uses recent feminist analyses of how women read as a context for her detailed and readable study of these debates, exploring in a variety of texts--from magazines likeWoman's WorldandMyLady's Noveletteto works of literature likeJane EyreandThe Portrait of a Lady--the range of stereotypes and directives addressed to women readers, and their influence on the writing of fiction. She also looks at how women readers of all classes understood their own reading experiences.

The firm historical perspective combined with vivid, bristling detail makesThe Woman Readervaluable as well as interesting....The range of sources is staggering....Utterly engrossing, not only as history but as a clue to categories of 'woman reader' today. --The Independent

Flint's book is of incalculable value. She is excellent at summarizing what Victorian and twentieth-century critics and theorists have assumed about women readers; summarizing what we can actually deduce on the basis of the evidence available; and then pointing to the discrepancies. --VictorianReview