Flourishing Feminine Fiction: A Reflection on the Prosperity of British Female Literature in the Nineteenth Century

陳澤南

【Abstract】In the nineteenth century, unprecedentedly Britain had finished the Industrial Revolution and achieved a rapid development in all walks of life, against the backdrop of which over 30 female novelists, as a suddenly-rising force, made a debut into the literary circle successively. Jane Austen, the Bronte sisters and George Eliot are characterized by their unique feminine consciousness and keen realistic insight (Wu Juan, 2010), occupying an irreplaceable position in British literary history, and later bursting on the international scene. The essay is aimed at probing into the catalysts to this phenomenon.

【Key words】nineteenth century; female literature; prosperity; contributing factors

I. Introduction

The source of female literary creation can be traced back to the Medieval Ages and the Renaissance (Wang Qiong, 2011). However, the significantly prolonged period after that never saw the progress and prominence of female literary creation, until the advent of the great writers like Jane Austen in the nineteenth century, labeling a defining moment in the history of female literature. The emergence of this remarkable phenomenon should not be taken for granted but worthy of deliberation.

II. The Factors Contributing to the Phenomenon

1. The Promotion of the Industrial Revolution

The great productive force, triggered by the Industrial Revolution, serves as a solid material foundation for the creation of women. Throughout the nineteenth century, particularly in the Victorian Era, the middle class had been developing continuously, whether in number or in the economic strength. As a saying eloquently remarked, “Well fed, well bred”, a large portion of women might be exempted from laborious work and rendered more access to education.

2. The Retreat of Bourgeois Women

With the development of British bourgeoisie, womens fate had been turned upside down—what they used to be as the right hand of their husband, completely retreated home. Whats more, family and workplace separated under the effect of industrialization, making home a private space and a harbor of males emotion. For man, the ease of his wife and daughter was a symbol of the bourgeois status, saying his success in career (Zhang Jiaohui, Shen Zhenhua, 2008). Consequently, a large quantity of bourgeois women were made to be “angels in the kitchen”, given enough time and freedom to work on literary creations.

3. The Boom of Domestic Service and Creation for Livelihood

In the nineteenth century, the domestic service was extremely thriving, ranking the second in the whole occupied population, which to a large extent emancipated bourgeois women from heavy household workload. They have no need to work hard for living but enough spare time to reading and writing, during the process of which they tasted high-quality life finely and improved cultural level greatly. As Mrs. Gaskell depicted, women could have thought and read widely, and men began to appreciate and help them to become cultivated and knowledgeable instead of ridiculing or confining them (2000).

Another reason for women to write was to earn a living. At that time, the Black Death and colonial expansion led to serious gender imbalance in Britain, leaving lots of women unmarried, whose family background determined that theyre not allowed to leave home. Hence, working on literary creation for a living was considered as a decent occupation. The celebrated Bronte sisters, as a typical example, started as tutors and then turned to writing.

4. The Examples of Predecessors

Virginia Woolf, one of the representative writers of the Modernism, believed that the great work could not be gratuitously born; instead, it is the crystallization of ever-lasting common thoughts (Virginia Woolf, 1987). Actually the sudden rise of female writers in the nineteenth century was based on the foundation of their predecessors, such as Mrs. Behn (17th), Mrs. Ann Radcliff (18th) and Eliza Haywood (18th). As a matter of fact, women almost held sway over the novels creation in the last 25 years of eighteenth century, according to Rubinstein, a British critic (1953). Influenced by these examples, more than thirty female novelists entered into the public view in the nineteenth century, which must have a necessarily close connection with fundamental works of the pioneers.

5. The Inspiration from Life Experiences

As for British women in nineteenth century, especially bourgeois women, their educational and personal experiences were the source of creation, providing them with rich materials and inexhaustible inspirations. As a result, their creative themes were nothing more than family, marriage, personal emotions and country life, etc. Not since Jane Austen produced her great novel Pride and Prejudice in 1813 has there been a more distinguished female writer renowned for depicting marriage and love. And without exception, her literary creation can be seen as an epitome of sentimental loss—first love ended up with a forced breakup and martial singleness for life.

Originated from vividly living experiences, the works of female novelists were beyond doubt the true reflection of ordinary life with literarily and allegorically refined, towards which a vast number of female readers were gravitated. In the meanwhile, there is growing popularity in womens creation, due to the resonance and stimulation from their counterparts.

6. The Awakening of Feminine Consciousness

As we may apparently perceive, British female writers in the nineteenth century simultaneously chose to write novels which was an immature genre despised by male writers at that time. And womens works were always marginalized by social masses and mocked by critics (Zhang Jiaohui, Shen Zhenhua, 2008). Nonetheless, female writers integrated their own life experiences into novels, which was itself an act to strive for the voice. Furthermore, their personal experiences would become the collective memories of women in that era and an epitome of the great time. Whether in Pride and Prejudice or in Jane Eyre, female writers revealed the Feminist Thought—the pursuit of independence, freedom and impartiality, which attested to the awakening of feminine consciousness. For example, Jane Eyre, the heroine created by Charlotte Bronte, became “the first woman professing love for a man before his declaration and proposal in English literature” (Fang Ping, 1989), through the portrayal of which the writer tried to deny and deconstruct the old-fashioned definition of women in a male-centered and patriarchal society.

III. Conclusion

To put it in a nutshell, the prosperity of British female literature in the nineteenth century was fueled by economic, social and cultural advantages at the same time. Whats more, the probe into this remarkable phenomenon and the interpretation of their distinctive works will render us a better understanding of the ins and outs of British womens life in that era.

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