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This thesis has been submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for a postgraduate degree (e.g. PhD, MPhil, DClinPsychol) at the University of Edinburgh. Please note the following terms and conditions of use: • This work is protected by copyright and other intellectual property rights, which are retained by the thesis author, unless otherwise stated. • A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. • This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the author. • The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author. • When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given. A Sociology of Small Things: Olive Schreiner, Eleanor Marx, Amy Levy and the Intertextualities of Feminist Cultural Politics in 1880s London Donna Marie Hetherington PhD Sociology University of Edinburgh 2014 DECLARATION In accordance with University regulations, I hereby declare that: 1. This thesis has been composed solely by myself 2. This thesis is entirely my own work 3. This thesis has not been submitted in part or whole for any other degree or personal qualification. Signed: Donna Marie Hetherington September 2013 2 ABSTRACT This thesis investigates the cultural politics of a small group of women through their writing and other activities in 1880s London. Focussed on Olive Schreiner, Eleanor Marx and Amy Levy and the connections they had to one another and to other women, such as Henrietta Frances Lord, Clementina Black and Henrietta Müller, it explores key events in their everyday lives, the writings and texts they produced. It analyses a wide selection of textual sources, re-reading these for small details, intertextual connections and points of disjuncture, to allow for different ways of understanding the mechanics of feminist cultural politics as produced and performed by these interconnected women. Small things in texts can be revealing about such women’s everyday lives and connectedly the cultural politics which underpinned their actions, thus contributing to knowledge about how writing was used strategically and imaginatively to challenge, side-step and overcome oppression and inequality, in these years in London and after. Using the term ‘writing’ in a broad sense to include letters and diaries and other archival sources such as newspaper articles, reviews and manuscript drafts, as well as some selected published work and biographies, the thesis is anchored around four event-driven investigations: Olive Schreiner being accosted by a policeman; the first public performance of Ibsen’s A Doll’s House; the writing of a letter mentioning Eleanor Marx; and, the death of Amy Levy. Relatedly, there are discussions concerning working with historical documents, documenting and archiving the past, researching and representing the past in the present. These investigations allow for the operationalization of a research approach framed by ideas concerning micro, small-scale, everyday life and its qualitative aspects, which together contribute to a re-conceptualisation of a ‘sociology of small things.’ Specifically, it is argued that close and small-scale studies of women’s writing, whether undertaken alone or connected to others, sheds light on the importance of relationship dynamics in connection with writing output, on what writing was produced and what role each text played in larger scale political agendas. Concepts such as palimpsest, liminality and bricolage are interrogated with respect to researching and representing the spatial and temporal interconnectedness of the selected authors and textual sources. And contributions are made to contemporary thinking about epistolarity and social networks, focussing on reciprocity, gift-giving and receiving and notions of ‘letterness,’ along with the defining of boundaries, and the value of determining the nature of ties between women. The thesis also argues that the relationships between intimacy and distance, interiority and exteriority, public and private, are frayed with complicated overlaps. 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This acknowledgment marks an end to one particularly bumpy road, in an academic sense and in life more broadly. Before embarking on the Edinburgh part of the journey I worked in the University of Sussex Special Collections, which set me up with a passion for all things archival. I have a great fondness for the staff there including Dorothy Sheridan, Claire Langhamer, Fiona, Jessica and Karen. From Sussex also I want to say thank you to Ben Rogaly, who was not only inspiring to work with but kind and understanding, which was much needed at that time. The University of Edinburgh has been a wonderful place to study and the School of Social and Political Science provided an intelligent, rigorous and fun environment in which to work. I thank the AHRC for funding, without which this research would not have been possible. My sincere thanks to the very splendid Liz Stanley who recognised I was not a ‘dyed-in-the-wool’ sociologist and took me on anyway, pushing me to achieve more than I could imagine. Warm thanks also to Lilli Riga who bravely accepted being drafted in to supervise during my final year, and who gently coerced me out of the depths of historical details into seeing the bigger picture. Additional thanks to Jane Jacobs for some inspiring supervisory input early on, and to Jimmy Kennedy and Nadia Valman for their thorough and thoughtful viva voce grilling. A big cuddle goes to Sarah Poustie, comrade-in-arms, who never failed to cheer me up with her wonderful humour. Thanks also to Angus who patiently proofread and copy-edited my thesis and who I owe a case load of Chablis to. I would like to thank staff at all the archives mentioned and some not mentioned but which I spent valuable time at. Particular thanks to: Helen Melody at the British Library, Pete Lacson at UCLA, Erin Rhodes at Colby College, and Anne Manuel at Somerville College. To Lindsay Stainton, a big thank you, especially for organising the tractor to get me across the deep snow to access the Amy Levy Papers during one wintry February. And, thank you to Christine Pullen, Howard Wollman, to Anthony Joseph who wrote ‘real’ letters to me, and to Doreen Berger and Raymond Montanjees, who kindly guided me round the Ball’s Pond Road Cemetery in search of Amy Levy’s head stone. Turning to my friends and family I would like to thank my Dad who encouraged an interest in history and in education as a means of getting on in life, balanced by my Mam’s never-ending cuddles and kisses. I thank Doc who has walked a million miles around London (and other cities) with me, who incited a love of hidden urban treasures, and who has fed, watered and loved me over the years. I need also to thank my cousin Susie who 4 planted the seed to study for a PhD; Lucy, Annie, Jue and Deb, my girly support network; Paul and Shirl, and especially my little sister Maria who was the driving force (and at times the bigger sister) behind me finishing writing-up this thesis in time for another of life’s surprises. If researching and writing this thesis had been the only thing going on in life for the last few years it would have been a lot easier. But, like the women I have researched and whose lives I have tried to do justice to, there are many other events threaded through these words and pages. The most momentous thing to have occurred was the loss of our lovely and loving Mam. She would be proud to know I became a doctor, but more concerned to know I was happy. After all this Mama, I can honestly say yes, as this acknowledgement also marks a new beginning, of life with our little bright buttercup, Arianna Valerie, a small and very precious thing indeed. 5 DEDICATION “It was a small thing; but life is made up of small things” (Olive Schreiner, The Story of An African Farm, 1883, p. 216) This thesis is dedicated with love to my Mam Valerie Anne Hetherington (d. 4.4.2012) who I miss each and every day for all the small things we shared. It is also dedicated with love to my daughter Arianna Valerie (b. 24.10.2013) a small miracle who came along when I needed her most. 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEGDMENTS 4 DEDICATION 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS 7 ABBREVIATIONS 9 CHAPTER ONE Introduction: The ‘New Woman,’ Writing and Cultural Political Practices in 1880s London 10 CHAPTER TWO Researching Small Everyday Things: Methodological Issues 24 Introduction 25 Defining ‘A Sociology of Small Things’1 33 The Perspective of Researching Small Things 34 The Politics of Researching Small Things 40 The Practice of Researching Small Things in Archives, Networks and Writing 41 Beginning ‘Writing About Writing’ 55 CHAPTER THREE Women and Writing: Place, Intertextuality and Cultural Politics in 1880s London 57 Introduction 57 Overview of 1880s London 61 STUDY ONE: The Importance and Idea of ‘Home’ in Relation to Women’s Writing 69 STUDY TWO: Adopting Ibsen’s ‘Nora’ to Speak About Equality and Emancipation 84 Women’s Writing and Cultural Politics in 1880s London as Complexly Interior and Exterior 95 CHAPTER FOUR Eleanor Marx’s Authorial ‘I’: Mimesis and Multi-Voiced Cultural Political Writing Practices 103 1 This idea and subtitle has been inspired by Jacobs (2005) on ‘A Geography of Big Things.’ 7 Introduction 103 Introducing Eleanor Marx 108 Sources and Methodological Issues: “He must paint what lies before