THE HISTORY OF BRITISH WOMEN’S WRITING, 1880-1920 Edited by Holly A. Laird Volume Seven The History of British Women’s Writing, 1880–1920 The History of British Women’s Writing General Editors: Jennie Batchelor and Cora Kaplan Advisory Board: Isobel Armstrong, Rachel Bowlby, Helen Carr, Carolyn Dinshaw, Margaret Ezell, Margaret Ferguson, Isobel Grundy, and Felicity Nussbaum The History of British Women’s Writing is an innovative and ambitious monograph series that seeks both to synthesise the work of several generations of feminist scholars, and to advance new directions for the study of women’s writing. Volume editors and con- tributors are leading scholars whose work collectively reflects the global excellence in this expanding field of study. It is envisaged that this series will be a key resource for specialist and non-specialist scholars and students alike. Titles include: Elizabeth Herbert McAvoy and Diane Watt (editors) THE HISTORY OF BRITISH WOMEN’S WRITING, 700–1500 Volume One Caroline Bicks and Jennifer Summit (editors) THE HISTORY OF BRITISH WOMEN’S WRITING, 1500–1610 Volume Two Mihoko Suzuki (editor) THE HISTORY OF BRITISH WOMEN’S WRITING, 1610–1690 Volume Three Ros Ballaster (editor) THE HISTORY OF BRITISH WOMEN’S WRITING, 1690–1750 Volume Four Jacqueline M. Labbe (editor) THE HISTORY OF BRITISH WOMEN’S WRITING, 1750–1830 Volume Five Mary Joannou (editor) THE HISTORY OF BRITISH WOMEN’S WRITING, 1920–1945 Volume Eight Mary Eagleton and Emma Parker (editors) THE HISTORY OF BRITISH WOMEN’S WRITING, 1970–Present Volume Ten History of British Women’s Writing Series Standing Order ISBN 978–0–230–20079–1 (hardback) (outside North America only) You can receive future titles in this series as they are published by placing a standing order. Please contact your bookseller or, in case of difficulty, write to us at the address below with your name and address, the title of the series and the ISBN quoted above. Customer Services Department, Springer Nature, Cromwell Place, Hampshire International Business Park, Lime Tree Way, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG24 8YJ, UK The History of British Women’s Writing, 1880–1920 Volume Seven Edited by Holly A. Laird Holly A. Laird Co-Director of Women’s and Gender Studies Program Frances W. O’Hornett Chair of Literature Henry Kendall College of Arts & Sciences Department of English University of Tulsa USA ISBN 978–1–137–39379–1 ISBN 978–1–137–39380–7 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/978–1–137–39380–7 Library of Congress Control Number: 2010026127 Springer London Heidelberg New York Dordrecht © Holly A. Laird 2016 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2016 The author(s) has/have asserted their right(s) to be identifi ed as the author(s) of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Design and Patents Act 1988. This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifi cally the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfi lms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specifi c statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. Printed on acid-free paper This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by SpringerNature The registered company is Macmillan Publishers Ltd. London. Contents List of Figures vii Series Editors’ Preface viii Acknowledgements ix Notes on the Contributors x Chronology xv Introduction: A revolutionary moment 1 Holly A. Laird Part I Modern Women From the New Woman to the Suffragette 1 The (Irish) New Woman: Political, literary, and sexual experiments 25 Tina O’Toole 2 Fin-de-Siècle Ouida: A New Woman writing against the New Woman? 35 Lyn Pykett 3 The New Woman in Wales: Welsh women’s writing, 1880–1920 47 Jane Aaron 4 British Women Writers, Technology, and the Sciences, 1880–1920 59 Lisa Hager 5 Mediating Women: Evelyn Sharp and the modern media fictions of Suffrage 72 Barbara Green From the Decadent to the Queer 6 Female Decadence 85 Joseph Bristow 7 Re-writing Myths of Creativity: Pygmalionism, Galatea figures, and the revenge of the Muse in late Victorian literature by women 97 Catherine Delyfer 8 Venus in the Museum: Women’s representations and the rise of public art institutions 111 Ruth Hoberman v vi Contents 9 Women’s Nature and the Neo-Pagan Movement 125 Dennis Denisoff From the Nation to the Globe 10 This Nation Which Is Not One: Olive Schreiner’s The Story of an African Farm 139 Holly A. Laird 11 Geographies of Self: Scottish women writing Scotland 150 Glenda Norquay 12 Modern Travel on the Fringes of Empire 162 Judy Suh 13 Women Writing Japan 174 Edward Marx Part II Modern Genres From the Story to the Lyric 14 New Women Writing Beyond the Novel: Short stories 189 Margaret D. Stetz 15 Material Negotiations: Women writing the short story 203 Kate Krueger 16 Women’s Lyric, 1880–1920 213 Emily Harrington 17 Vigo Street Sapphos: The Bodley Head Press and women’s poetry of the 1890s 225 Linda H. Peterson From Journalism to the War Memoir 18 Women’s Slum Journalism, 1885–1910 245 S. Brooke Cameron 19 Turn-of-the-Century Women Writing about Art, 1880–1920 258 Meaghan Clarke 20 The British Female Detective Written by Women, 1890–1920 273 Joseph Kestner 21 Writing Modern Deaths: Women, war, and the view from the Home Front 284 Bette London Select Bibliography 298 Index 303 List of Figures 17.1 Dollie Radford, Songs and Other Verses (London: John Lane, 1895), title page. Courtesy of Yale University Library 233 17.2 Katharine Tynan Hinkson, Cuckoo Songs (London: Elkin Mathews and John Lane, 1894), title page. Courtesy of Yale University Library 234 17.3 Rosamund Marriott Watson, A Summer Night and Other Poems (London: John Lane, 1895), title page. Courtesy of Yale University Library 237 17.4 E. Nesbit, A Pomander of Verse (London: John Lane, 1895), title page. Courtesy of Yale University Library 239 19.1 ‘Press Day at the Royal Academy’, in ‘Art Critics of Today’, Art Journal 1892, p. 195 259 19.2 Alice Meynell, ‘Brighton Treasure House’, Magazine of Art 1882, p. 2 263 19.3 James McNeill Whistler, The Savoy Pigeons 1896, lithograph, Studio 1896, p. 25 264 vii Series Editors’ Preface One of the most significant developments in literary studies in the last quar- ter of a century has been the remarkable growth of scholarship on women’s writing. This was inspired by, and in turn provided inspiration for, a post-war women’s movement, which saw women’s cultural expression as key to their emancipation. The retrieval, republication and reappraisal of women’s writ- ing, beginning in the mid 1960s have radically affected the literary curriculum in schools and universities. A revised canon now includes many more women writers. Literature courses that focus on what women thought and wrote from antiquity onwards have become popular undergraduate and postgraduate options. These new initiatives have meant that gender – in language, authors, texts, audience and in the history of print culture more generally – are cen- tral questions for literary criticism and literary history. A mass of fascinating research and analysis extending over several decades now stands as testimony to a lively and diverse set of debates, in an area of work that is still expanding. Indeed so rapid has this expansion been, that it has become increasingly difficult for students and academics to have a comprehensive view of the wider field of women’s writing outside their own period or specialism. As the research on women has moved from the margins to the confident centre of literary stud- ies it has become rich in essays and monographs dealing with smaller groups of authors, with particular genres and with defined periods of literary production, reflecting the divisions of intellectual labour and development of expertise that are typical of the discipline of literary studies. Collections of essays that pro- vide overviews within particular periods and genres do exist, but no published series has taken on the mapping of the field even within one language group or national culture. A History of British Women’s Writing is intended as just such a cartographic standard work. Its ambition is to provide, in ten volumes edited by leading experts in the field, and comprised of newly commissioned essays by specialist scholars, a clear and integrated picture of women’s contribution to the world of letters within Great Britain from medieval times to the present. In taking on such a wide ranging project we were inspired by the founding, in 2003, of Chawton House Library, a UK registered charity with a unique collection of books focusing on women’s writing in English from 1600 to 1830, set in the home and working estate of Jane Austen’s brother. Jennie Batchelor University of Kent Cora Kaplan Queen Mary, University of London viii Acknowledgements My deepest thanks go to Cora Kaplan and Jennie Batchelor, general editors of The History of British Women’s Writing.