The Odd Women

Condition: BRAND NEW ISBN: 9780199538300 Author(s): George Gissing Format: Paperback Language: English Year: 2008 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pages: 432 Series: Oxford World's Classics

Description: there are half a million more women than men in this unhappy country of ours . . . So many odd women - no making a pair with them.' The idea of the superfluity of unmarried women was one the New Woman' novels of the 1890s sought to challenge. But in The Odd Women (1893) Gissing satirizes the prevailing literary image of the New Woman' and makes the point that unmarried women were generally viewed less as nobleand romantic figures than as odd' and marginal in relation to the ideal of womanhood itself. Set in grimy, fog-ridden London, these odd' women range from the idealistic, financially self-sufficient Mary Barfoot and RhodaNunn, who run a school to train young women in office skills for work, to the Madden sisters struggling to subsist in low-paid jobs and experiencing little comfort or pleasure in their lives. Yet it is for the youngest Madden sister's marriage that the novel reserves its most sinister critique. With superb detachment Gissing captures contemporary society's ambivalence towards its own period of transition. The Odd Women is a novel engaged with all the majorsexual and social issues of the late-nineteenth century. Judged by contemporary reviewers as equal to Zola and Ibsen, Gissing was seen to have produced an intensely modern' work and it is perhaps for this reasonthat the issues it raises remain the subject of contemporary debate. *Introduction *Textual Note *Bibliography *Chronology *Explanatory Notes *Map ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions byleading authorities, helpful