1st Edition

Regenerating the Novel Gender and Genre in Woolf, Forster, Sinclair, and Lawrence

By James J. Miracky Copyright 2003
    192 Pages
    by Routledge

    192 Pages
    by Routledge

    In this exploration of the most innovative and iconoclastic modernist fiction, James J. Miracky studies the ways in which cultural forces and discourses of gender inflect the practice and theory of four British novelists: Virginia Woolf, E. M. Forster, May Sinclair, and D. H. Lawrence. Building on analyses of gender theory and formal innovation in Virginia Woolf's novels, this book examines Forster's queered use of fantasy, Sinclair's representation of manly genius in both male and female streams of consciousness, and Lawrence's quest for the novel of phallic consciousness. Reading each author's fiction alongside his or her theoretical writing, Miracky provides four diverse examples of how literary modernism wrestled with the gender crisis of the early twentieth century.

    Acknowledgments Chapter One: Gender and Genre Matters: Virginia Woolf as Pioneer and Paradigm Introduction Gendering Literary History and the Novel Woolf's Take on the Male Novel Tradition: Realism as Erection Constructing a Women's Literary History Writing a Woman's Sentence . . . and Novel Considering Woolf's Peers: Gendering the Novel as Well? Chapter Two: Pursuing (a) Fantasy: E. M. Forster's Doubled-up Fiction Introduction Aspects of Fantasy Where Homosexuality Fears to Tread: The Italian Novels Fantasy in Conflict: The Longest Journey Fantasy Rerouted: Howards End From Phobia to Fulfillment: maurice From Fantasy to the Not Yet of Reality: A Passage to India Chapter Three: The Sexing of Genius: May Sinclair's Experimental Novels Introduction Tales of Idealism and Realism: Sinclair's Early Novels Transitions in Theory and Technique: The Three Sisters Entering the Stream: Mary Olivier and Harriet Frean The Stream Dries Up: Arnold Waterlow and Anthony Waring Chapter Four: From Consummation to Remasculation: D. H. Lawrence's Quest for the Phallic Novel Introduction Consummation of Male and Female: Early Views on the Novel Man-Loving and Woman-Hating: Post-War Views of the Novel Quickening the Novel: Lawrence's Later Theory The Feminization of Fiction and Its Antidote Notes Bibliography Index

    Biography

    James J. Miracky