This thesis examines a wide range of domestic novels, from Bram Stoker's Dracula (1897) to Woolf's Mrs Dallowa~ (1925), in order to explore their intensified concern with the aesthetlc value of domestic scene. The representation of the house in these works is viewed as an ideological strategy of containment, effected not only by narrative exclusions but also by the literary mode of the narrative. The domestic novel at the turn of the century does not necessarily produce an image of the house but presents a writing of space which interacts with architectural aesthetics in a discourse of the house beautiful. Critical analysis of the cultural and economic contradictions of this discourse indicates the way that the domestic novel is shaped by the colonial situation and at the same time opens out the complexity of its construction of feminine subjectivity. The late 19th century produced simplified spacious design in a reaction to the Victorian concept of the civilised house. The fictional and architectural ideal of a unified house form is, however, an assertion of identity and, in this sense, a renegotiation of the opposition between the E~gl~sh home and foreign or colonial 'otherness ' • This mapping is effected w~th~n the ideological imperative of the question of colonial trade. The flctl0nal emphasis on woman's relation to the house deals with her displacement in the commodity world of the aestheticised house. Yet the privilege given to the English word home lends to woman's sensual appreciation of the house, or creation of setting for herself, an importance which limits th~ ~mplied critique. Furthermore, feminine experience of habitation is relfled by the authoritive definition of the house in the interacting aesthetics of architecture and literature. The domestic novel thus mystifies new feminine roles, particularly the role of entertainment and even the attempt to demystify such ideals of habitation to . some extent colludes with the mystique by seeking the truth of woman's unspoken experience of the house
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:250370 |
| Date | January 2002 |
| Creators | Toropov, Pavel |
| Publisher | University of Liverpool |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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