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Gender Pre 1900s Literature

Any suggestions for pre-1900s novels/texts that challenge gender/roles/stereotypes etc?
Original post by Oliviacait02
Any suggestions for pre-1900s novels/texts that challenge gender/roles/stereotypes etc?

Hey, sorry you've not had any responses to this yet - just giving it a quick bump, so hopefully someone will be along soon :biggrin:

Is there any literature recommended by your school or college?
Original post by shadowdweller
Hey, sorry you've not had any responses to this yet - just giving it a quick bump, so hopefully someone will be along soon :biggrin:

Is there any literature recommended by your school or college?

Thank you!
Not really, we currently study Jane Eyre and Othello so it can't be them but other than that it is just up to us... ( it's AQA exam board btw)
Reply 3
'The Awakening' by Kate Chopin was written in 1899 and has a very interesting central female character called Edna Pontellier.

https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/awakening/character/edna-pontellier/
Original post by Oliviacait02
Any suggestions for pre-1900s novels/texts that challenge gender/roles/stereotypes etc?


The obvious ones include Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre, The Beetle, Dracula, anything to do with the 'New Woman' would be a good place to start.

If you're allowed to pick a play, some of Oscar Wildes plays might come in handy.

Although challenging and very demanding, Chaucer's The Wife of Bath's Tale and it's associated fragments maybe a good one. I tackled the epic poem at uni and it was challenging. But saying that, Chaucer is on quite a few A-level lit specs and has been taught at A-level quite a lot. So it's doable.
(edited 4 years ago)
Try the play A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen. It’s quite short and easy to analyse the dynamic between husband and wife
Emma by Jane Austen perhaps? A more active and multi-faceted female protagonist than often seen. Works by Charlotte Perkins-Gilman delve into the complexities of gender as well eg. Herland, The Yellow Wallpaper etc.
I would second the suggestion of A Doll's House - one of the things that makes it worthwhile is that is focuses a lot on the process of self-growth and overturning gendered stereotypes as opposed to solely subverting the stereotypes.

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