Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2014. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis engages the ideological ambivalence about the nineteenth-century middle-class domestic that emerged at mid-century by focusing on the non-canonical British and Californian writing of a fairly unknown but prolific author, Catherine Hubback, Jane Austen’s niece. It explores the tension between ideology and practice in Hubback’s writing, and argues that her work simultaneously challenges and endorses the ideal of domesticity. To the extent that it challenges this ideal, Hubback’s fiction, in its representation of domestic practice, negotiates class and gender ideologies that play out in the middle-class home. The thesis also traces how her endorsement of middle-class domesticity became more pronounced in the story and letters she wrote after her emigration to California, taking the form of overt criticism of American femininity and domesticity.
Hubback’s concern with women’s position in relation to law and marriage is read within the context of developments in the genre of domestic fiction. My close reading of four novels – The Younger Sister, May and December: A Tale of Wedded Life, The Wife’s Sister; or, The Forbidden Marriage and Malvern; or, The Three Marriages – examines Hubback’s representation of marital and domestic configurations that are consistently viewed in relation to the social and legal position of women. The novels explore alternative options for women’s lives illustrated by their negotiation of the constraints of middle-class womanhood on their own terms; in marriage, or by choosing not to marry. Similarly, my discussion of Victorian masculinity in Hubback’s fiction focuses on the concern with moral and industrious middle-class manhood that establishes middle-class values as the definition of proper Englishness. As part of this discussion, I demonstrate how Hubback’s fiction reworks middle-class masculinity in order to establish a model for marriage that ensures domestic stability and ultimately the order of the English nation. In the final chapter of this thesis, I continue my exploration of Englishness and domestic ideology by reading Hubback’s short story and letters from California. In contrast to the ideological ambivalence registered in the novels, these texts more overtly subscribe to middle-class English values. My reading of Hubback’s work for this thesis thus aims to contribute to an understanding of the complex interrelation between ideology, domestic practice and literature in the nineteenth-century. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie tesis ondersoek die ideologiese ambivalensie aangaande die negentiende eeuse middelklashuishouding wat teen die middel van die eeu te voorskyn getree het deur te fokus op die nie-kanonieke Britse en Kaliforniese skryfwerk van ʼn redelik onbekende,dog produktiewe,skrywer, Catherine Hubback, Jane Austen se niggie. Dit ondersoek die verhouding tussen ideologie en praktyk in Hubback se skryfwerk en voer aan dat haar werk die ideaal van huishoudelikheid gelyktydig uitdaag en goedkeur.In soverre dit hierdie ideal uitdaag, baan Hubback se fiksie, deur middle van die voorstelling van huishoudelike praktyke,ʼn weg deur die klas-en geslagsideologieë wat in die middelklaswoning afspeel.Die tesis ondersoek ook hoe haar ondersteuning van middelklashuishoudelikheid meer prominent geword het in die verhale en briewe wat sy na haar emigrasie na Kalifornieë geskryf het, en wat die vorm aangeneem het van openlike kritiek teenoor Amerikaanse vroulikheid en huishoudelikheid. Hubback se belangstelling in die posisie van vroue ten opsigte van die wet en die huwelik word gesien in die konteks van ontwikkelinge in die genre van huishoudelikefiksie. My bestudering van vier romans – The Younger Sister, May and December: A Tale of Wedded Life, The Wife’s Sister; or, The Forbidden Marriage en Malvern; or, The Three Marriages – ondersoek Hubback se voorstelling van konfigurasies in die huwelik en in die huishouding wat deurgaans beskou word ten opsigte van die sosiale en wetlike posisie van vroue. Die romans ondersoek alternatiewe opsies vir vroue se lewens wat geïllustreer word deur die wyse waarop hulle hul weg baan deur die beperkings wat op hulle geplaas is as vroue van die middelklas; in die huwelik, of deur te verkies om nie te trou nie.My bespreking van Viktoriaanse manlikheid in Hubback se fiksie focus ook op die belangstelling in morele en hardwerkende middelklasmanlikheid wat middelklaswaardes as die definisie van ware Engelsheid bepaal. As deel van hierdie bespreking demonstreer ek hoe Hubback se fiksie middelklasmanlikheid hersien om ʼn model vir die huwelik te skep wat huishoudelike stabiliteit en uiteindelik ook die orde van die Engelse nasie verseker.
In die laaste hoofstuk van die tesis sit ek my ondersoek van Engelsheid en die huishoudelike ideologie voort deur Hubback se kortverhaal en briewe van Kalifornieë te lees. In teenstelling met die ideologiese ambivalensie wat in die romans geregistreer word, onderskryf hierdie tekste meer openlik die waardes van die Engelse middelklas. My lees van Hubback se werk vir hierdie tesis poog dus om by te dra tot ʼn begrip van die komplekse onderlinge verhouding tussen ideologie, huishoudelike praktyk en die letterkunde in die negentiende eeu.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:sun/oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/86585 |
| Date | 04 1900 |
| Creators | Davids, Courtney Laurey |
| Contributors | Ellis, Jeanne, De Villiers, Dawid, Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of English. |
| Publisher | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | en_ZA |
| Detected Language | Unknown |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 186 p. |
| Rights | Stellenbosch University |
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