As I prepare for my final term paper I realized that I hadn't yet posted some of my independent study readings.

39.
Title: [The Woman in White]
Author: Wilkie Collins
Genre: Victorian Gothic
Medium: Broadview Paperback
Acquisition: Victorian IS Reading
Date Completed: Spring 2016
Rating: ******

Wilkie Collins' The Woman in White is a wonderfully gothic sensation novel, rich in themes of morality, madness, deceit, and romance. Walter Hartright (heart - right) is engaged as a drawing instructor in a wealthy country household, and, predictably, falls in love with the beautiful sister, Laura.  Thematically consistent is Laura's standing engagement to the reprehensible Sir Percival Glyde, to whom Laura promises herself at her father's deathbed, and to whom she is married in the early course of the novel.  Glyde is not what he appears to be, and his repugnant characteristics reveal themselves as a mysterious young woman, Anne, makes herself known as a one-time childhood companion of Laura, devotee to Laura's late mother, and keeper of a secret that threatens Glyde in some mysterious way.  Though many of these narrative devices and themes are consistent within the genre, to the point of near-cliche, Collins masterfully builds mystery and suspense, serving his readers both what they expect of the material, while using strong characterization to heighten the reader's engagement with the narrative.  The reader will shrink from Glyde, mistrusting his actions, and feeling anxiety over Laura; though traditionally pathetic, Laura's strong character allows for a level of sympathy occasionally denied heroines her her position; Count and Countess Fosco are perhaps even less trustworthy than their friend and host, Gylde, and loom ominously around the edges of the narrative, and so forth.  That the romantic lead Walter is a shallow wash of a character does not hinder the plot, but rather allows for the substitution of one's own romantic figure in his place, allowing a personal entry into the narrative for maximum fantasizing.

For my own purposes and writing, Anne is the most engaging character, and her relationship to Laura provides a point of fascination.  The titular "woman in white," Anne is both phantom and fleshly, represented as slightly mad and therefore less trustworthy, but a keeper of some of the most extraordinary knowledge in the novel.  In reading the material construction of identity, I am struck by the other characters' reading of her blanched wardrobe, and its purported significance, not so far from a time when such choices would be fashionable and romantic.  Significant, too, is her status as a doppelganger, and the machinations surrounding this pot device.  I find it difficult to go further without spoiling the mystery of the novel, but promise to make good use of these points in my final semester writing.

Highly recommended for fans of the Victorian or the Gothic.

40.
Title: [The Odd Women]
Author: George Gissing
Genre: Victorian
Medium: Broadview Paperback
Acquisition: Victorian IS Reading
Date Completed: Spring 2016
Rating: ****

The position of women in nineteenth-century England cannot be over-exaggerated: they are victimized at every level of society, and have to fight extraordinary social and political battles to attain even the most basic rights. Gissing's The Odd Women works to illustrate society's failure in relation to unmarried women specifically, Gissing's "odd" women being the "redundant" women of Rathbone's lamentation.  The novel opens with the orphaning of the Madden sisters, daughters of a physician of various ages and levels of education, none of whom are prepared for self-support.  When Dr. Madden's untimely demise leaves the girls to fend for themselves they, as a rule, fail, and the novel follows the regrettable existence of half of these daughters, along with their bluestocking friend, Rhoda.  The text works hard to reveal social ills, and to illustrate the efforts being made to rectify these shortcomings.  Critically, Gissing's work feels extraordinary, and is a significant critique that belongs on any introductory English or gender studies syllabus.  Personally, I did not enjoy the text; the Madden sisters in their poor state are wooden ad monochromatically pathetic, and so while I lament greatly their position my emotional response comes wholly from my own historical research rather than the narration of the sisters themselves.  Similarly, I found Rhoda to be exceptionally abrasiveness, and while I enjoy her position, and can laugh at some of her extremist views, I found her to be ineffective for my own current position. Final thoughts: important and useful social text, but not necessarily an engaging personal read.