Publication Date
2016-08-06
Availability
Embargoed
Embargo Period
2018-08-06
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PHD)
Department
English (Arts and Sciences)
Date of Defense
2016-05-23
First Committee Member
Frank Palmeri
Second Committee Member
Mihoko Suzuki
Third Committee Member
Kathryn Freeman
Fourth Committee Member
Elsie Michie
Abstract
My dissertation questions conventional periodization and expands traditional ideas of satire through examining the works of the British writers Elizabeth Inchbald, Mary Hays, Mary Robinson, Elizabeth Gaskell, and George Eliot. I contend that the open-endedness of narrative satire enables women to stage a successful, even if covert, foray into the political public sphere. To this end, I incorporate in my discussion multiple genres, literary traditions, theoretical frameworks, and cultural and political conditions of literary production. By focusing on the use of satire by women writers, a literary genre most often attributed to male writers, I demonstrate that the ability of women satirists to incorporate elements of narrative satire stems from the political motive of trying to gain a voice in the political public sphere. The interdisciplinarity of my research has significant implications: my argument on the use of satire by women as a marginalized group can be extended to other such groups to illuminate participation of various disenfranchised communities within the political arena.
Keywords
Narrative; Satire; British Women Writers; Public Sphere; Political Writing
Recommended Citation
Be, Alisa, "Women's Participation in the Political Public Sphere: Redefining the Form of Narrative Satire, 1790-1880" (2016). Open Access Dissertations. 1724.
http://scholarlyrepository.miami.edu/oa_dissertations/1724