Promise of the Suburbs - A Victorian History in Literature and Culture

"From the earliest decades of the nineteenth century, the suburbs were maligned by the aristocratic elite as dull zones of low cultural ambition and vulgarity, as well as generally female spaces isolated from the consequential male world of commerce. Sarah Bilston argues that these attitudes were forged to undermine the cultural authority of the emerging middle class and to reinforce patriarchy by trivializing women's work. Resisting these stereotypes, Bilston reveals how suburban life offered ambitious women, especially women writers, access to supportive communities and opportunities for literary and artistic experimentation as well as professional advancement. From more familiar figures such as the sensation author Mary Elizabeth Braddon to interior design journalist Jane Ellen Panton and garden writer Jane Loudon, this work presents a more complicated portrait of how women and English society at large navigated a fast-growing, rapidly changing landscape."--Provided by publisher.

About the author

Sarah Bilston is professor of literature at Trinity College. She is the author of The Awkward Age in Women's Popular Fiction, 1850-1900 and two novels, Bed Rest and Sleepless Nights.

Product details

• Authors: Sarah Bilston, Bilston Sarah
• Publisher: Yale University Press Ltd
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 28.02.2019
• EAN: 9780300179330
• ISBN: 978-0-300-17933-0
• No. of pages: 296
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > General and comparative literary studies; Non-fiction book > Dictionaries, reference works > Foreign-language dictionaries; Modern history to 20th century: c 1700 to c 1900, European History, HISTORY / World, HISTORY / Europe / Ireland, HISTORY / Europe / Great Britain / Victorian Era (1837-1901), c 1800 to c 1900, 19th century, c 1800 to c 1899, Ireland, General & world history, British & Irish history, United Kingdom, Great Britain, Literature: history & criticism, General and world history, Literature: history and criticism