Publisher's Synopsis
The issue of women and reading - what they should read, what they should be protected from, and how, when and where they should read - was the focus in the 19th century of protracted and lively discussion in literary criticism and advice manuals, as well as literary texts and autobiographies, medical and psychological works. Kate Flint uses recent feminist analyses of how women read as a context for her study of these debates, exploring in a range of texts - from magazines like "Woman's World" and "My Lady's Novelette", to works of literature such as "Jane Eyre" and "The Portrait of a Lady" - the stereotypes and directives addressed to women readers, and the influence these debates had on the writing of fiction. She then provides evidence from women readers - working women, as well as the privileged - as to how they understood their own reading experiences.
