Aristocratic women flourished in the Victorian literary world, their combination of class privilege and gendered exclusion generating distinctively socialized modes of participation in cultural and political activity. Their writing offers an important trope through which to consider the nature of political, private and public spheres.

Autorentext
MUIREANN O'CINNEIDE is a Lecturer in English at the National University of Ireland, Galway. Her research centres on women's writing, politics, and empire.

Inhalt
Contents Acknowledgements Introduction PART I: CLASS AND AUTHORSHIP Aristocratic Lives: Life-Writing, Class and Authority Dilettantes and Dandies: Authorship and the Silver Fork Novel Silly Novels and Lady Novelists: Inside the Literary Marketplace PART II: WRITING THE NATION STATE Wrongs Make Rebels: Polemical Voices The Spectacle of Fiction: Self, Society and the Novel Affairs of State: Aristocratic Women and the Politics of Influence Conclusion: 1867 and Beyond Works Cited Notes