The role of women in society in 19th-century literature compared to contemporary literature

Pohlmann, Katharina (2025): The role of women in society in 19th-century literature compared to contemporary literature. Dissertation, LMU München: Fakultät für Sprach- und Literaturwissenschaften

Abstract

As up until the end of the 19th century women were underrepresented in literary studies and female writers often had to use a male penname in order to be published, gender studies and female theory play a big role in contemporary literary theory. While in the 19th century women were measured by the contrasting terms ‘Angel in the House’, ‘Fallen Woman’, and, by the second half of the 19th century, ‘New Woman’, women appear to be a lot freer in their life choices in today’s society, and female writers and characters play a much bigger role in contemporary literature. However, despite the freedom women gained through the waves of feminism, one can still see the inequality between the genders in the 21st century, be it in the work force on the example of the gender pay gap or in everyday life where women are blamed for being molested. It is often claimed that literature functions as a mirror of society. Consequently, this suggests that popular literature either appeals to what society as a whole believes or criticizes something a big part of society finds worth criticizing. The aim of this dissertation is therefore to examine in how far the role of women within society has changed over the last 200 years and whether women are still being classified under the terms ‘Angel in the House’ and ‘Fallen Woman’. For this, bestselling authors of the 19th and of the 21st century will be compared to see what the wider public liked to read in each respective time and whether the way of writing about women has actually changed as much as one would expect. Another important factor to focus on is the changing image of women as well as the situation for women with a multicultural background. The questions to be answered are in how far the portrayal of women in literature has changed, in how far that portrayal aligns with reality, and whether there is any common ground between the different images of women from different cultures.

• Dokumententyp: Dissertationen (Dissertation, LMU München)
• Themengebiete: 800 Literatur ; 800 Literatur > 820 Englische, altenglische Literatur
• Fakultäten: Fakultät für Sprach- und Literaturwissenschaften
• Sprache der Hochschulschrift: Englisch
• Datum der mündlichen Prüfung: 13. Februar 2025
• 1. Bericht­erstatter:in: Nowak, Helge