The Victorian novel and masculinity

Abstract

THE VICTORIAN NOVEL AND MASCULINITY, edited by Phillip Mallett. Palgrave Macmillan, 2015. 240 pp. ISBN 9780230272323 (hb) 9781137491534 / 9781137491541 (e-bk)Philip Mallett's edited book, Victorian and Masculinity consists of nine essays explore the various aspects of masculinity at in the Victorian age as represented in the literary works of some of the most representative authors of the day. book puts to rest the monolithic ideas of masculinity as propagated by Carlyle, one of the leading thinkers of the times, both by the authors discussed in this interesting collection as well as this book itself, the aim of the collection being to show, as Mallett puts it, that there was and could be no monolithic 'ideal' of manhood; neither as a goal to be embraced, nor as a standard no individual man can live up to or fulfil but rather a diversity of masculinities (p. xii). book covers a wide range of Victorian literature, from the to the industrial novel as explored by Mrs Gaskell, George Gissing through Dickens, Hardy, George Eliot to the Imperial novel right to the Aesthetic novel, as well as Conrad's works coming at the close of the age and spilling over onto the next. Much like the time frame itself, which we try to neatly classify, notions of gender, especially of masculinity, fail to be contained in neat categories and threatens to spill over the set boundaries. This is what makes this book a highly valuable addition to the growing body of Victorian masculinity studies.The essays have been arranged chronologically, as per the timeline of the various Victorian novelists. volume opens with an exploration of masculinity in the literary works of the Bronte siblings. In Maculinity, Power and Play in the Work of the Brontes Sara Lodge argues the early fictional world of the sheds much light on the way they shape up their male characters in their more recognized and celebrated later works. According to Lodge, The fact four Bronte siblings become so closely involved in this imaginary world, was co-directed by male and female hands, suggests the way in which these fictions enabled a literary space where gender difference was itself subject to interrogation, impersonation and play (pp. 2-3). rest of the essay deconstructs the early world of the in the form of Angrian fiction-the fictional world, which the young Bronte siblings called Angria and which was to later find a place in their more mature fictional works.The ensuing essay titled Working-Class Masculinity and the Victorian Novel explores masculinity and its relation to the working class and as evident in the novels of Elizabeth Gaskell, George Gissing and Arthur Morrison. link between three novelists is that, Chris Louttitt writes, all three depict men attempting (and sometimes failing) to negotiate the demands of working-class life (p. 34).Natalie McKnight's chapter, and Masculinity: Necessity of the Nurturing Male, is one of the most enjoyable essays in this volume. It highlights some of the challenges Charles Dickens, one of the foremost popular as well as the most influential author of the era, levelled against prevailing notions of masculinity in his times. McKnight argues at the very beginning of the essay Throughout his career, and increasingly toward the end, Dickens questioned the very gender norms he himself had helped to establish. In particular, Dickens undermines rigid gender divisions through male characters... (p. 51) thus helping to establish him as one of the leading dissenters of Carlyle's ideals of masculinity. McKnight sums it up aptly when she talks about the maturing Dickens who gave voice to the various men and women in his novels and in so doing created challenging, provocative and androgynous characters who are among the most memorable of a very memorable cast to be found in British literature (p. 64).Shelly Trower delves directly into the fictional world of George Eliot in her essay, Tomboys and Girly Boys in George Eliot's Early Fiction. …