Women and Sexual Love in the British Novel, 1740-1880: A 'Craving Vacancy' [Paperback]

This text explores the ways in which four British novelists used and transformed the theme of women's relation to sexual love in the 18th and 19th centuries. It analyzes the moment in cultural history when gender roles, sexuality and literature met to become a new ideology.Preface: 'Craving Vacancy' - Sexual Meanings and the Problem of Love - Chastity and 'Rumour'd Heavens': 'Woman' and the Double Message of Sexual Love - The Light in the Cavern: Samuel Richardson and Sexual Love - Thornfield and 'The Dream of Repose': Jane Eyre - Down the Forbidden Path: Villette - Wild Desire and Quenchless Will: Wuthering Heights - Sexual Possibilities and Impossibilities: George Eliot and the 'Hidden Wound' - Conclusion - Notes - IndexSUSAN OSTROV WEISSER