The Odd Women - Softcover

Gissing, George; Thayer, S.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1497465362 ISBN 13: 9781497465367

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2014

Synopsis

The Odd Women is an 1893 novel by the English novelist George Gissing. Its themes are the role of women in society, marriage, morals and the early feminist movement. The novel's title is derived ostensibly from the notion that there was an excess of one million women over men in Victorian England. This meant there were "odd" women left over at the end of the equation when the other men and women had paired off in marriage. A cross-section of women dealing with this problem are described in the book and it can be inferred that their lifestyles also set them apart as odd in the sense of strange.

About this title

Review:

"When it comes to the complexities of everyday life in late-Victorian London, there is no better guide than Gissing and no better Gissing than The Odd Women. And now, in Arlene Young's carefully edited and annotated edition, we have the definitive guide to Gissing's novel. Students will also find the historical documents gathered in this volume an invaluable resource in the study of the "woman question" and the sociology of work in the 1890s."--Stephen Arata

Comments:

“When it comes to the complexities of everyday life in late-Victorian London, there is no better guide than Gissing and no better Gissing than The Odd Women. And now, in Arlene Young’s carefully edited and annotated edition, we have the definitive guide to Gissing’s novel. Students will also find the historical documents gathered in this volume an invaluable resource in the study of the “woman question” and the sociology of work in the 1890s.” — Stephen Arata, University of Virginia

“Broadview’s enterprise is especially welcome in the case of The Odd Women, Gissing’s second most commonly studied novel. [This edition] deserves to become the text of choice for teachers--especially given its modest price.” — The Gissing Journal

“When it comes to the complexities of everyday life in late-Victorian London, there is no better guide than Gissing and no better Gissing than The Odd Women. And now, in Arlene Young’s carefully edited and annotated edition, we have the definitive guide to Gissing’s novel. Students will also find the historical documents gathered in this volume an invaluable resource in the study of the “woman question” and the sociology of work in the 1890s.” — Stephen Arata, University of Virginia

“Broadview’s enterprise is especially welcome in the case of The Odd Women, Gissing’s second most commonly studied novel. [This edition] deserves to become the text of choice for teachers--especially given its modest price.” — The Gissing Journal

"When it comes to the complexities of everyday life in late-Victorian London, there is no better guide than Gissing and no better Gissing than The Odd Women. And now, in Arlene Young's carefully edited and annotated edition, we have the definitive guide to Gissing's novel. Students will also find the historical documents gathered in this volume an invaluable resource in the study of the "woman question" and the sociology of work in the 1890s." -- Stephen Arata, University of Virginia

"Broadview's enterprise is especially welcome in the case of The Odd Women, Gissing's second most commonly studied novel. [This edition] deserves to become the text of choice for teachers--especially given its modest price." -- The Gissing Journal

"When it comes to the complexities of everyday life in late-Victorian London, there is no better guide than Gissing and no better Gissing than The Odd Women. And now, in Arlene Young's carefully edited and annotated edition, we have the definitive guide to Gissing's novel. Students will also find the historical documents gathered in this volume an invaluable resource in the study of the "woman question" and the sociology of work in the 1890s." -- Stephen Arata, University of Virginia

"Broadview's enterprise is especially welcome in the case of The Odd Women, Gissing's second most commonly studied novel. [This edition] deserves to become the text of choice for teachers--especially given its modest price." -- The Gissing Journal

From the Back Cover:

George Gissing's The Odd Women dramatizes key issues relating to class and gender in late-Victorian culture: the changing relationship between the sexes, the social impact of 'odd' or 'redundant' women, the cultural impact of 'the new woman, ' and the opportunities for and conditions of employment in the expanding service sector of the economy. At the heart of these issues as many late Victorians saw them was a problem of the imbalance in the ratio of men to women in the population. There were more females than males, which meant that more and more women would be left unmarried; they would be 'odd' or 'redundant, ' and would be forced to be independent and to find work to support themselves. In the Broadview edition, Gissing's text is carefully annotated and accompanied by a range of documents from the period that help to lay out the context in which the book was written.

In Gissing's story, Virginia Madden and her two sisters are confronted upon the death of their father with sudden impoverishment. Without training for employment, and desperate to maintain middle-class respectability, they face a daunting struggle. In Rhoda Nunn, a strong feminist, Gissing also presents a strong character who draws attention overtly to the issues behind the novel. The Odd Women is one of the most important social novels of the late nineteenth century.

About this edition

• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 1497465362
• ISBN 13: 9781497465367
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 266