Review by Choice Review
"Modernism" continues to be reexamined in recent feminist criticism, especially since Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar's No Man's Land (CH, Apr'88). Ardis focuses on the place of the " New Woman" novel, 1880-90, in British modernism and makes a valuable contribution to the study of early modern fiction. Why was the unattached late-Victorian woman labeled "odd," "wild," "superfluous," and "new"? This literary character demystified the ideology of "womanliness," the inevitability of the marriage plot, and the mimetic standards of didactic realism. Yet modernist critics have long relegated the "New Woman" to derogatory footnote status. This interesting study describes the rise and fall of the New Woman, her marginalization and exclusion from the cannon. Among the topics examined are matters of aesthetic deficiency, ideological self-consciousness, intertextuality, and the distinction between popular culture and high art. It explains her dismissal as a reflection of unease with the angry aesthetic of political engagement, a topic that today continues to decenter the modernist aesthetic. Includes extensive notes, a bibliography of New Woman authors, and helpful index. Recommended for all collections on the history of the novel. S. A. Parker Hiram College
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
