Literary Canon and Women's Role: A Historical Perspective - Prof. Monrós, Apuntes de Literatura del Siglo XIX

¡Descarga Literary Canon and Women's Role: A Historical Perspective - Prof. Monrós y más Apuntes en PDF de Literatura del Siglo XIX solo en Docsity! WHAT IS A CANON? The term “literary canon” refers to a body of books, narratives and other texts considered to be the most important and influential of a particular time period or place. These works are essential to understanding the time period, country, or genre Elaine Showalter, she was one of the first literary women that put femenine writers within the canon. Literary periods: + Periodization: organizing literature in time for the purpose of learning and teaching it + Generation: group of writers born around the same time + Movement: writers that share certain characteristics + Literary period: romanticism, Victorian age, modernism, etc. Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720-78) Very inspired by Roman architecture. The prison of the Minds Negative feelings, feeling of disorder, importance of the architecture in gothic tradition. Social and individual crisis from the early to the late 18th century. Tradition. Description of the interior spaces Joseph Mallord Turner 1794 Tintern Abbey A location that became ruins in the 18th century. It was very important in romanticism because of the idea of the right, etc. Idea of coming back to these ideal places. Country side is a safe place. John Constable The Hay Wain 1821 Idealized countryside landscape. The metropoly grows because there's no opportunity which is not ideal. But because of the industrial revolution etc makes it look as a relaxing place. New literary genres, new ways of entertaining. Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828 - 1882) Artistic movement in relation to poetry. Highly symbolic paintings. Elisabeth represented for him the real beauty. Images of women are highly sexualized. Idea of an angel in the house. Augustus Leopold Egg (1858) Past and Present Indoor scene. Depicts the image of a family, the woman is begging for mercy because the man discovered she had an affair with another man. It looks like there is violence but there's not. The concept of women in the "past". Middle upper classes. Lawrence Alma-Tadema, The Roses of Heliogabalus (1888) It represents a very tragic scene in Roman history. It was a banquet, it was so over the top that the ceiling fell off and killed a lot of the guests there. Greek and Roman influence. Introduction to the 19th century literature Background of some important events in the 18th century: 1. Industrial revolution: change of the social order, of landscape, new topics to write about social issues. The novels talk about social conditions. New characters (the drunks). People from the countries to the metropolis, not always getting jobs and getting addictions (alcohol, drugs...). Economy changed. Communication increased together with social contact >new railways (the country is closer to the city), new forms of spreading knowledge (newspapers, libraries, drama companies). New forms of publications which printed faster than before. 2. American declaration of Independence (4th July 1776): change of geographical order. The British empire has lost some of the biggest colonies (questions of the Englishness: what is it to be an English?) 3. The French Revolution also has influenced English 19th century literature. The ideal of liberty and brotherhood. Social order (hierarchy had been challenged). 4. Declaration of the rights of man and of the citizen. August 26, 1789 The idea of property and free communication. It affected to literature in different in the terms of topic. Idea of property, speech and gender. Essays of opinions. Many of the speech liberty ideas expressed in the declarations are not exactly true. It has got many good ideas but leaves out a lot o people, like married women (women in general) foreign people. Divorce. 6: the lord being equal to all social classes will be highly discussed. What influenced 19th century literature? 1. SOCIAL CLASSES 2. PRINT INDUSTRY (which come from the industrial revolution). Periodicals spread for the first time in 1864 and became more and more popular through the years. In periodicals people could find poems and short publications. **Massive explosion of literary works Magazines mostly stored humorous poems into their pages. No class distinction in education Marriage on equal terms at an early age Investment on the education of women PONE Women are social slaves but still they have a lot of power. 5. Couverture law New genre: Women utopias (women ruling country). Literature will be a chance for women to achieve what they are not allowed. Florence Nightingale Florence Nightingale Cassandra (1852) The first woman to introduce the profession of nursery. After the war she was visiting soldiers with a candle. She wrote an essay on nursery and Cassandra. She was brought up in a wealthy family, they were very conservative. They are the perfect examples of the Angel in the house. She is also considered a conservative in the second part of her life, she refused to marry when she was younger. She claimed that she daydreamed, and she imagined another life for her out of the upper class. She wanted to be a professional woman. She was allowed to go to a war and before that she published this short essay, Cassandra. The first edition of the essay was in the hands of six friends of hers who later probably edited it through the years. In 1923 it was first published. Why does she call herself and the essay “Cassandra”. It comes from the Greek tradition, a priest of apollo. She was able to tell the truth but when she refused Apollo”s love, he quits her the power of persuasion and thus nobody believed her even though she was telling the truth. TOPICS: + There is no allowed women to grow intellectually (Angel in the house) + They are not allowed to think + Educate herself enough to amuse their guests + They have accepted their role to be a Wife + They have read CONDUCT BOOK (> massive explosion in the 19th century) to teach how to be a perfect woman. also includes the idea of the Angel in the house. + Any intellectual occupation would be selfish and thus they had to give up on it John Stuart Mill John Stuart Mill The subjection of Women He signed a petition of parliament for women's vote. He speaks about the master, not the husband. The vocabulary is much more related to the world of slavery. There are lots of different words to convey just one meaning. Their minds are enslaved also because of education, they have been educated to be good wives and therefore slaves. They are brain forced to be so. Only being dependent on men will be their goal in life. Woman slavery is a way of being criticized. Types of women in the 19th century “The angel in the house”= Coventry Patmore wrote this poem to his wife. > Man must be pleased and him to please is woman's pleasure >The popular Victorian image of the ideal wife/woman came to be "the Angel in the House"; she was expected to be devoted and submissive to her husband. > Even if she loves alone, her duty is to love > Submission woman Strong-minded woman: regarded as being masculine and opposed to restrictions imposed by society. Between the 19th and early 20th century. She precedes the New Woman. Sometimes she is represented with a mustache. Not sexualised. New Woman: it is a term coined and thus in capital letters. She is much more socially and politically engaged. She also has masculine attitudes, but she is much more connected with society and politics. More committed with the independence of women. Both go against the image of the angel in the house. Tn the picture: she is enjoying reading, sitting in a non-femenine way. She is not sexualised, wearing glasses and dressing is not fashionable. Fallen Woman: has lost her chastity, they either die or they are restored in society, into another marriage. She has a sexual behavior that does not meet the standars of the angel in the house. The woman who have been abused, raped and had childrend out of the marriage. Sometimes they are considered prostitutes. They are victims. Femme Fatale: related with fallen women. Salome represents her. She wanted the head of Gian Battista. They are seductresses. Likely to cause risk. Es un tipo de personaje, normalmente una villana que usa la sexualidad para atrapar al desventurado héroe. Se la suele representar como sexualmente insaciable. Aunque suele ser malvada, también hay mujeres fatales que en algunas historias hacen de antiheroínas e incluso de heroínas. En la actualidad, el arquetipo suele ser visto como un personaje que constantemente cruza la línea entre la bondad y la maldad, actuando sin escrúpulos sea cual sea su voluntad.