Hysterical Fictions

The woman's novel is a term used to describe fiction which, while immensely popular among educated women readers, sits uneasily between high and low culture. Clare Hanson argues that this hybrid status reflects the ambivalent position of its authors and readers, as educated women caught between identification with the male-gendered intellectual culture and a counter-experience of female embodiment. Through six case studies, the representation of a 'mind/body problem' is explored in the fiction of Rosamond Lehmann, Elizabeth Bowen, Elizabeth Taylor, Margaret Drabble, A. S. Byatt and Anita Brookner.

Introduction Rosamond Lehmann and the Woman in Love Elizabeth Bowen: 'Becoming Woman' Elizabeth Taylor's Speaking Bodies Margaret Drabble: Natality, Labour, Work and Action A. S. Byatt's Gardens Anita Brookner: The Principle of Hope Bibliography Index