Valerie Sanders

Ruskin grew up in suburban London; in later life, he settled in the Lake District. Thomas and Jane Welsh Carlyle moved from rural Scotland to London's Cheyne Walk. This title focuses on writers for whom 'the centre' was a pressing concern. Elizabeth Gaskell, like her contemporary Emily Bronte, was from the north of England, though based in Lancashire and Cheshire rather than Yorkshire. Her first novel, Mary Barton 1848) was set in the north and was unusually realistic in its depiction of Manchester working-class life.. The three volumes that comprise a set are facsimile reproductions of contemporary biographical material. They include letters, memoirs, poems and articles on three outstanding Victorian literary persons: John Ruskin, Elzabeth Gaskell and the Carlyles.

This concise new book provides close readings of both canonical and less familiar novels and articles by the novelist Margaret Oliphant (1828-97). They show how she maintained a spirited dialogue with her age, confronting its ingrained prejudices, while reinforcing some of them herself. / A prolific novelist, auto/biographer, and periodical writer, Mrs. Oliphant was also a highly contradictory figure. Not just for her apparently anti-feminist standpoint on many issues, but also for her disparaging dismissal of the 'sensation' novel of the 1860s, while freely adopting some of its features in her own writing (including supernatural tales). / This study argues that Oliphant's outlook on nineteenth-century culture was both provocative and unpredictable. Her best novels are witty, acerbic, and deeply ironic as she dismantles the sacred assumptions of the Victorian middle classes, and updates her chronicles of judgemental communities to tackle the extremes of idealism and inertia. / Oliphant was a keen observer of dysfunctional families, male professionals, and religious snobbery. She notices bodies and clothes, the touch of hands, unflattering complexions, loud colours, and limp muslins. Her widows refuse to retire into the shadows, while her men are notoriously inept and lethargic. This thorough reappraisal of the most controversial areas of her writing draws on fresh critical approaches, from clothes history to theories of embodied subjectivity, as well as the rich field of journalism studies. / Contents provisional]: Ch.1. Margaret Oliphant: 'One of those difficult cases for criticism'; Ch.2, 'General utility woman' or Critic of the Age?; Ch.3. Mothers, Daughters, Wives, Widows; Ch. 4. Mrs Oliphant's Clothes and Bodies; Ch.5. 'Only a Man': Oliphant's Masculinities; Ch.6. The Sensational and Supernatural; Ch.7. Conclusion.

This concise new book provides close readings of both canonical and less familiar novels and articles by the novelist Margaret Oliphant (1828-97). They show how she maintained a spirited dialogue with her age, confronting its ingrained prejudices, while reinforcing some of them herself. / A prolific novelist, auto/biographer, and periodical writer, Mrs. Oliphant was also a highly contradictory figure. Not just for her apparently anti-feminist standpoint on many issues, but also for her disparaging dismissal of the 'sensation' novel of the 1860s, while freely adopting some of its features in her own writing (including supernatural tales). / This study argues that Oliphant's outlook on nineteenth-century culture was both provocative and unpredictable. Her best novels are witty, acerbic, and deeply ironic as she dismantles the sacred assumptions of the Victorian middle classes, and updates her chronicles of judgemental communities to tackle the extremes of idealism and inertia. / Oliphant was a keen observer of dysfunctional families, male professionals, and religious snobbery. She notices bodies and clothes, the touch of hands, unflattering complexions, loud colours, and limp muslins. Her widows refuse to retire into the shadows, while her men are notoriously inept and lethargic. This thorough reappraisal of the most controversial areas of her writing draws on fresh critical approaches, from clothes history to theories of embodied subjectivity, as well as the rich field of journalism studies. / Contents provisional]: Ch.1. Margaret Oliphant: 'One of those difficult cases for criticism'; Ch.2, 'General utility woman' or Critic of the Age?; Ch.3. Mothers, Daughters, Wives, Widows; Ch. 4. Mrs Oliphant's Clothes and Bodies; Ch.5. 'Only a Man': Oliphant's Masculinities; Ch.6. The Sensational and Supernatural; Ch.7. Conclusion.

In this sequel to her 2000 anthology, Valerie Sanders again brings together an influential group of women whose autobiographical accounts of their childhoods show them making sense of the children they were and the women they have become. The fourteen women included juxtapose recollections of the bizarre with the quotidian and accounts of external events with the development of a complex inner life. Reading and acting are important themes, as is the precariousness of childhood, whether occasioned by a father's financial pressures or the early death of a parent. Significantly, most grew up expecting to earn their own living. The collection includes children's authors (Frances Hodgson Burnett and E. Nesbit), political figures (Emmeline Pankhurst and Louisa Twining), and well-known writers (Mary Elizabeth Braddon, Anne Thackeray Ritchie, Sarah Grand). Of relevance to scholars working in the fields of women’s autobiography, the history of childhood, and Victorian literature, this anthology includes a scholarly introduction and brief biographical sketches of each woman.

Examining Victorian middle-class fatherhood from the fathers' own perspective, Valerie Sanders dismantles the persistent stereotype of the nineteenth-century paterfamilias by focusing on the intimate family lives of influential public men. Beginning with Prince Albert as a high-profile patriarchal role-model, and comparing the parallel case histories of prominent Victorians such as Dickens, Darwin, Huxley and Gladstone, the book explores the strains on men in public life as they managed their private relationship with their children and found a language for the expression of their pleasure, grief and anxiety as fathers. In a context of cultural uncertainty about the legal rights and moral responsibilities of fatherhood, the study draws on a wealth of unpublished journals and letters to show how conscientious Victorian fathers in effect invented a meaningful domestic role for themselves which has been little understood.

In this sequel to her 2000 anthology, Valerie Sanders again brings together an influential group of women whose autobiographical accounts of their childhoods show them making sense of the children they were and the women they have become. The fourteen women included juxtapose recollections of the bizarre with the quotidian and accounts of external events with the development of a complex inner life. Reading and acting are important themes, as is the precariousness of childhood, whether occasioned by a father's financial pressures or the early death of a parent. Significantly, most grew up expecting to earn their own living. The collection includes children's authors (Frances Hodgson Burnett and E. Nesbit), political figures (Emmeline Pankhurst and Louisa Twining), and well-known writers (Mary Elizabeth Braddon, Anne Thackeray Ritchie, Sarah Grand). Of relevance to scholars working in the fields of women’s autobiography, the history of childhood, and Victorian literature, this anthology includes a scholarly introduction and brief biographical sketches of each woman.

Examining Victorian middle-class fatherhood from the fathers' own perspective, Valerie Sanders dismantles the persistent stereotype of the nineteenth-century paterfamilias by focusing on the intimate family lives of influential public men. Beginning with Prince Albert as a high-profile patriarchal role-model, and comparing the parallel case histories of prominent Victorians such as Dickens, Darwin, Huxley and Gladstone, the book explores the strains on men in public life as they managed their private relationship with their children and found a language for the expression of their pleasure, grief and anxiety as fathers. In a context of cultural uncertainty about the legal rights and moral responsibilities of fatherhood, the study draws on a wealth of unpublished journals and letters to show how conscientious Victorian fathers in effect invented a meaningful domestic role for themselves which has been little understood.

Throughout her fifty-year career, Harriet Martineau's prolific literary output was matched only by her exchanges with a range of high-profile British, American and European correspondents. This set focuses on the letters written by Martineau, contextualising the correspondence through annotation of the highest standard.

Throughout her fifty-year career, Harriet Martineau's prolific literary output was matched only by her exchanges with a range of high-profile British, American and European correspondents. This set focuses on the letters written by Martineau, contextualising the correspondence through annotation of the highest standard.

Throughout her fifty-year career, Harriet Martineau's prolific literary output was matched only by her exchanges with a range of high-profile British, American and European correspondents. This set focuses on the letters written by Martineau, contextualising the correspondence through annotation of the highest standard.

Throughout her fifty-year career, Harriet Martineau's prolific literary output was matched only by her exchanges with a range of high-profile British, American and European correspondents. This set focuses on the letters written by Martineau, contextualising the correspondence through annotation of the highest standard.

Thomas and Jane Welsh Carlyle moved from rural Scotland to London's Cheyne Walk. This title focuses on writers for whom 'the centre' was a pressing concern. Elizabeth Gaskell, like her contemporary Emily Bronte, was from the north of England, though based in Lancashire and Cheshire rather than Yorkshire. Her first novel, Mary Barton 1848) was set in the north and was unusually realistic in its depiction of Manchester working-class life. Ruskin grew up in suburban London; in later life, he settled in the Lake District . The three volumes that comprise a set are facsimile reproductions of contemporary biographical material. They include letters, memoirs, poems and articles on three outstanding Victorian literary persons: John Ruskin, Elzabeth Gaskell and the Carlyles.

This study focuses on the work of four Victorian anti-feminist women writers - Eliza Lynn Linton, Charlotte M. Yonge, Mrs Humphry Ward, and Margaret Oliphant - examining their self-contradictory responses to the debate about women's role in family life and society. Individual chapters review women's anti-feminism from 1792-1850, and fresh readings of their best-known novels emphasize the inconsistencies of their masculine and feminine ideals.