The Space of Optimism: State Fantasy and the Case of "The Odd Women"

Confronted with the life-altering consequences of industrialization, the fluctuations of capitalism and imperialism, and the struggles of gender and class politics, many Victorians devoted themselves to the prospect of social reform. Here, Aslami investigates specific Victorian objects of optimism a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Victorian studies 2004-09, Vol.47 (1), p.55-85
Main Author: Aslami, Zarena
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Capitalism
Culture
Gender
Gissing, George
Hope
Imperialism
Irony
Liberalism
Literary criticism
Literature
Love
Narrators
Novels
Optimism
Optimization
Police
Politics
Spencer, Herbert (1820-1903)
Victorian period
Victorians
Women
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Summary:Confronted with the life-altering consequences of industrialization, the fluctuations of capitalism and imperialism, and the struggles of gender and class politics, many Victorians devoted themselves to the prospect of social reform. Here, Aslami investigates specific Victorian objects of optimism and fantasies in which they unfold by focusing on a rupture in the late-nineteenth-century British popular imaginary. He also shows how The Odd Women shifts from a familiar narrative about the late-Victorian Woman Question into an unfamiliar exploration of the mechanics of optimism.
ISSN:0042-5222
1527-2052
1527-2052
DOI:10.1353/vic.2005.0029