The Pregnancy Question and the Novel - Detection and Concealment from Richardson to Hardy

Pregnancy and the Novel is a study of covert representations of pregnancy and birth in canonical eighteenth- and nineteenth-century novels. The research draws on medical texts to illuminate the ways that novelists simultaneously hide and reveal problematic pregnancies and births. Grounded in narrative theory and historicism, it reveals a reciprocal influence between literature and science through the novels of Samuel Richardson, the Brontës, George Eliot, Dickens and Hardy. This project is an act of literary detective work that will uncover what can easily be missed by twenty-first century readers, bringing it into light by reconstructing historical knowledge of reproductive medicine.This is an open access book.

List of contents

1 Introduction.- Part I: 'Conceal this Unhappy Body': Clarissa and the Question of Hidden Pregnancy.- 2 Medical Texts.- 3 Clarissa Before.- 4 Clarissa After.- Part II: Incorporeal Pregnancy and Disguised Labour: the Brontës and George Eliot.- 5 Emily Brontë.- 6 Anne Brontë.- 7 George Eliot.- Part III: So Visible and So Hidden: Charles Dickens and Thomas Hardy.- 8 Charles Dickens.- 9 Thomas Hardy.- 10 Conclusion.

About the author

Tracy Brain
is Professor of Creative Writing and English Literature at Bath Spa University, UK.

Summary

Pregnancy and the Novel is a study of covert representations of pregnancy and birth in canonical eighteenth- and nineteenth-century novels. Grounded in narrative theory and historicism, it reveals a reciprocal influence between literature and science through the novels of Samuel Richardson, the Brontës, George Eliot, Dickens and Hardy.

Product details

• Authors: Tracey Brain, Tracy Brain
• Publisher: Springer Palgrave Macmillan
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Release: 09.04.2026
• EAN: 9781137276452
• ISBN: 978-1-137-27645-2
• Illustrations: Approx. 270 p.
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > General and comparative literary studies; Social sciences, law, business > Social sciences (general); Kulturwissenschaften, Literaturwissenschaft: 1800 bis 1900, Literaturwissenschaft: 1600 bis 1800, Open Access, Nineteenth Century, Comparative Literature, Women's health, Reproductive Medicine, Medical Humanities, Gynecology, Novel, Nineteenth-Century Literature, Eighteenth-Century Literature, eighteenth century, Literature, Gender and Sexuality, Literature, Science and Medicine Studies, Medical treatises, Birth stories, Midwifery books, Canonical authors