Elena Rebekka Götting Phd Thesis
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CHALLENGING MALENESS – THE NEW WOMAN’S ATTEMPTS TO RECONSTRUCT THE BINARY CODE Elena Rebekka Götting A Thesis Submitted for the Degree of PhD at the University of St Andrews 2014 Full metadata for this item is available in Research@StAndrews:FullText at: http://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/ Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/10023/6612 This item is protected by original copyright Challenging Maleness – The New Woman’s Attempts to Reconstruct the Binary Code Elena Rebekka Götting This thesis is submitted in partial fulfilment for the degree of Ph.D. at the University of St Andrews 20.09.2013 Abstract iii THESIS ABSTRACT This thesis explores the construction of masculinity in novels written by New Women authors between the years 1881-1899. The fin de siècle was a period during which gender roles were renegotiated with fervour by both male and female authors, but it was the so-called New Woman in particular who was trying to transform the Victorian notion of femininity to incorporate the demands of the burgeoning women’s movement. This thesis argues that in their fiction, New Women authors often tried to achieve this transformation by creating male characters who were designed to justify and to mitigate the New Woman protagonist’s departure from traditional structures of heterosexual relationships. The methodology underlying this thesis is the notion that men and women were perceived as binary opposites during the Victorian period. I refer to this as the binary code of the sexes. This code assumes that men and women naturally possess diametrically opposed character attributes, and also that “masculine” attributes are perforce better than “feminine” ones. In the body of this work, I argue that New Women authors attempted to contest both of these assumptions by creating, on the one hand, traditional male characters whose masculinity is corrupted in crucial and recurring ways, and on the other, impaired male characters who cannot assume the traditional role of man. The comparison of the New Woman protagonist with the corrupt traditional man elevates her feminine attributes, while the impaired man’s dependency legitimises her acquisition of what were otherwise considered “masculine” attributes and privileges, thereby contesting the notion that men and women possess sex-specific attributes at all. The second part of my thesis examines contrasting examples, in which this way of characterising masculinity – as traditional or impaired – is questioned and manipulated. It examines the limitations of the New Women authors’ specific approach to reconstructing the binary code. iv Declarations DECLARATIONS 1. Candidate’s declarations: I, Elena Rebekka Götting, hereby certify that this thesis, which is approximately 80000 words in length, has been written by me, that it is the record of work carried out by me and that it has not been submitted in any previous application for a higher degree. I was admitted as a research student in September 2009 and as a candidate for the degree of Ph.D. in September 2010; the higher study for which this is a record was carried out in the University of St Andrews between 2009 and 2013. I, Elena Rebekka Götting, received assistance in the writing of this thesis in respect of language, grammar and syntax, which was provided by Dr. Laura Hodsdon. Date…................................……signature of candidate ….......................................…… 2. Supervisor’s declaration: I hereby certify that the candidate has fulfilled the conditions of the Resolution and Regulations appropriate for the degree of Ph.D. in the University of St Andrews and that the candidate is qualified to submit this thesis in application for that degree. Date…....................................……signature of supervisor .......................................…… Declarations v 3. Permission for electronic publication: In submitting this thesis to the University of St Andrews I understand that I am giving permission for it to be made available for use in accordance with the regulations of the University Library for the time being in force, subject to any copyright vested in the work not being affected thereby. I also understand that the title and the abstract will be published, and that a copy of the work may be made and supplied to any bona fide library or research worker, that my thesis will be electronically accessible for personal or research use unless exempt by award of an embargo as requested below, and that the library has the right to migrate my thesis into new electronic forms as required to ensure continued access to the thesis. I have obtained any third-party copyright permissions that may be required in order to allow such access and migration, or have requested the appropriate embargo below. The following is an agreed request by candidate and supervisor regarding the electronic publication of this thesis: Access to printed copy and electronic publication of thesis through the University of St Andrews. Date ….....… signature of candidate ….......................... signature of supervisor …......................…..… For my Grandfathers Fritz Götting and Arthur Theuerkauf who were New Men before their Time. Acknowledgements vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I owe special thanks to my supervisor Phillip Mallett for trusting me to develop my own ideas even when they seemed far from his own, and for pulling me back when they went off the map completely. I have profited from his vast knowledge of New Woman fiction, and from his discreet way of steering me into profitable directions, in more ways than I probably realise. I am very thankful for the support of my university during the years I had to be absent from St Andrews, and to Sandra McDevitt for answering all my questions, even those I had not asked yet. Chera Ann Cole has been a fantastic roommate, and has acted as my stand-in during my absence; thank you for that. This thesis would not exist without the men of my family – my father, my three brothers, my uncles and cousins, and my grandfathers – who have shared with me their thoughts and fears on becoming and on being men. Neither would it exist without my mother’s unceasing efforts to determine at all times just “how the boys are doing”, which has inspired me to ask the same. I am deeply grateful to my parents Martin and Elke Götting, who paved the way for my university education by imparting their love for learning to me. Their emotional and financial support during my studies has been invaluable. Thank you for being who you are, and for loving the woman I have become. I also owe special thanks to my youngest brother Leon Balthasar Götting, who has read large parts of this thesis and helped me to shape my thoughts, and to my honorary little sister Laura Jäger, whose wonderful individuality has sparked my interest in gender studies, and who has encouraged and soothed me throughout all these years. Finally, a special thank you goes to Ingiberg Thor Thorsteinsson, who has been with me from the beginning of this project, and who has never lost faith either in my “big essay”, or in me. viii Table of Contents TABLE OF CONTENTS THESIS ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................... iii DECLARATIONS .......................................................................................................... iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................... vii ABBREVIATIONS .......................................................................................................... x INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................ 1 The New Woman and Her Time ................................................................................... 1 Methodology: Binary Codes ....................................................................................... 11 Pairing ..................................................................................................................... 19 Attribute Clustering ................................................................................................ 21 Valuation ................................................................................................................ 25 On the Arbitrariness of Valued Binaries – Thesis Structure .................................. 28 The Binary Code of the Sexes .................................................................................... 33 I. REVALUATION AND THE PHENOMENON OF THE BINARY MAN ............... 37 The Beth Book, Sarah Grand ....................................................................................... 42 From Man to Man; or, Perhaps Only..., Olive Schreiner .......................................... 49 The Daughters of Danaus, Mona Caird ...................................................................... 56 Red Pottage, Mary Cholmondeley ............................................................................. 64 The Main Findings of the First Chapter ..................................................................... 70 II. RE-ASSOCIATION AND THE PHENOMENON OF THE IMPAIRED MAN ..... 81 The Beth Book, Sarah Grand ....................................................................................... 87 “A Regeneration of Two”, George Egerton ............................................................... 97 The Heavenly Twins, Sarah Grand ..........................................................................