The Politics of Gender in Anthony Trollope's Novels: New Readings for the Twenty-First Century

Deborah Denenholz Morse

Dec 2016 · Routledge

About this ebook

Bringing together established critics and exciting new voices, The Politics of Gender in Anthony Trollope's Novels offers original readings of Trollope that recognize and repay his importance as source material for scholars working in diverse fields of literary and cultural studies. As the editors observe in their provocative introduction, Trollope more than any of his contemporaries is studied by scholars from disciplines outside literary studies. The contributors here draw together work from economics, colonialism and ethnicity, gender studies, new historicism, liberalism, legal studies, and politics that convincingly argues for the eminence of Trollope's writings as a vehicle for the theoretical explorations of Victorian culture that currently predominate. The essays variously examine imperial and postcolonial themes in the context of economic, cultural, aesthetic, and demographic influences; show how gender-sensitive readings expose Trollope's critique of capitalism's influence; address Trollope and sexuality in the context of queer studies, the law, archetypal constructions, and classical feminism; and offer new approaches to narrative theory through examination of Victorian understandings of male and female psychology. Regenia Gagnier's concluding chapter revisits the collection's critical strands and reflects on the implications for future studies of Trollope.

About the author

Margaret Markwick is an Honorary Fellow in the School of English at the University of Exeter, UK; Deborah Denenholz Morse is Professor of English at the College of William and Mary, USA; and Regenia Gagnier is Professor of English, director of the Centre for Victorian Studies, Director of the Migrations Research Network, and Senior Fellow at the ESRC Centre for Genomics in Society (Egenis) at the University of Exeter, UK