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REPRESENTATIONS of the NEW WOMAN in the 1890S WOMAN's REPRESENTATIONS OF THE NEW WOMAN IN THE 1890s WOMAN’S PRESS Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Leicester by Clare Mendes MA Department of English University of Leicester 2013 Abstract Mendes, Clare, University of Leicester, 2013. Representations of the New Woman in the 1890s Woman’s Press. My thesis uncovers innovative ways of re-reading the New Woman. By purposefully moving away from novelistic representations, I have reinvigorated the saturated area of New Woman studies, capturing instances of her elusive nature in the 1890s woman’s press. I reveal the unique coincidence between subject matter and publishing practice in my investigation of five 1890s women’s magazines: Shafts (1892-1899), Woman’s Signal (1894-1899), Young Woman (1892-1915), Woman (1890-1912) and Lady’s Realm (1896- 1914). I split the magazines into liberally feminist – Shafts and the Signal – and conservatively progressive – Young Woman, Woman and Lady’s Realm. The first three chapters produce case-studies of individual magazines. The final chapter explores Woman and the Lady’s Realm in tandem. Throughout my study I adopt four loose categories of exploration: editorial approaches; women’s relationships with themselves; women’s relationships with other women and men; literary identification. I use a combination of close analysis and broad overview to assess the categories, looking at essays, interviews, editorials, correspondence, advertisements, and advice columns. I observe the dialogue that fiction and poetry produced with these texts. My research reveals that the New Woman was a fragile and responsive entity who was used by the editors and readers of the magazines to project more desirable images of themselves, countering the virulent reception of the New Woman in the popular press. Whilst the New Woman offered an emancipatory utopia in the liberal feminist magazines, she was rejected, mocked and sometimes hesitantly promoted by the conservatively progressive publications. Her presence in these magazines served commercial and exploratory means. Most importantly, the New Woman provided an essential means of self-actualization. She offered comfort to female readers, even if this comfort lay in mocking her. Ultimately, this project adds an important new chapter to understandings of the New Woman, promoting her as a figure of self-identification for late- Victorian womanhood. i Acknowledgements My biggest thanks go to my supervisor, Professor Gail Marshall who has guided me through this process with eternal patience, intellectual rigour and that extra push that I so needed at the very end (including the late night email exchanges). This thesis certainly would not have come together without her invaluable counsel. I would also like to thank Professor Joanne Shattock who oversaw the early stages of my research and who provided thorough editing of several chapters. Her encouragement and down-to-earth attitude made my re-entry into academia both comfortable and exciting. Dr Lucy Evans also provided some very constructive insights into my work during the thesis committee meetings, helping me to regain control of my often overwhelming task. I am indebted to the English Department at the University of Leicester for all of their support over the last three years. Research grants provided from the department helped to fund my constant trips to the Colindale Library, wherein I amassed the vast majority of my material. The University also provided a supportive postgraduate department which helped to make the solitary undertaking of a PhD less daunting. I am particularly grateful to my research colleagues from the School of English: Nazia Parveen’s sage words of wisdom spurred me on through the last few difficult weeks whilst late night telephone conversations and constant cups of tea in the library café with Sonia Suman calmed me down during stressful patches. For their constant emotional (and financial!) support, as well as their encouragement of my many years in Higher Education, I am ever thankful to my wonderful parents. For meeting me during the last six months of my PhD, buying me a bookcase and a desk to accommodate my student needs, and sticking by me when others would have fled screaming in the opposite direction, I would lastly like to thank my boyfriend Robin Meynell ii Abbreviations LR. Lady’s Realm S. Shafts W. Woman WH. Woman’s Herald WPP. Women’s Penny Paper WS. Woman’s Signal YW. Young Woman iii Table of Contents Abstract .................................................................................................................................... i Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................ ii Abbreviations ........................................................................................................................ iii Table of Contents ................................................................................................................... iv Representations of the New Woman in the 1890s Woman’s Press: An Introduction ............ 1 Critical Perspectives ............................................................................................................ 5 Theoretical Issues .............................................................................................................. 18 Methodological Approaches ............................................................................................. 25 Chapter Outlines ................................................................................................................ 32 Chapter One Shafts of light on the New Woman .................................................................. 35 ‘What the Editor Means’ ................................................................................................... 37 Reading, Writing and Literary Self-Identification ............................................................ 51 Spiritual and Collective Feminism .................................................................................... 67 Women’s Bodies, Women’s Rights .................................................................................. 78 Conclusion......................................................................................................................... 93 Chapter Two Signalling the New Women ............................................................................ 96 Editing the New Woman ................................................................................................... 97 The Politicised, Healthy Housewife ................................................................................ 114 The Commercialised, Rational Body .............................................................................. 129 ‘Between the Lights’ of Women’s Writing ..................................................................... 139 Conclusion....................................................................................................................... 155 iv Chapter Three ‘merely a figurative Aunt Sally’: the New Woman in Young Woman ....... 157 A Magazine ‘for those who read and think’ .................................................................... 158 Constructing the Ideal Woman ........................................................................................ 171 Young Woman Fiction .................................................................................................... 186 Discourses of Marriage ................................................................................................... 200 Conclusion....................................................................................................................... 213 Chapter Four ‘Forward but Not Too Fast’: Woman and Lady’s Realm .............................. 216 Journalistic Approaches .................................................................................................. 218 Love, Marriage and the Ideal Woman ............................................................................. 232 Literary New Women ...................................................................................................... 247 Work and Leisure ............................................................................................................ 261 Conclusion....................................................................................................................... 275 Comparing the New Woman: A Conclusion ...................................................................... 277 Editorial Approaches ....................................................................................................... 278 Women’s Relationships to Others ................................................................................... 280 Women’s Relationships to Themselves .......................................................................... 281 Literary Presentations ...................................................................................................... 282 Conclusion....................................................................................................................... 284 Bibliography ....................................................................................................................... 286 Primary Material ............................................................................................................. 286 Secondary
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