The Trial of Woman: Feminism and the Occult Sciences in Victorian Literature and Society

by D. Basham

Overview

The Trial of Woman examines the impact of the nineteenth-century 'Occult Revival' on the Victorian Women's Movement, both in the lives of individual women and in the literature surrounding 'the Woman Question'. The book explores the Victorian Myth of Occult Womanhood and argues that the notion of female occult power was deeply influenced by the advent of Mesmerism, Spiritualism and Theosophy. This myth was itself a determining factor in women's struggle for legal and political rights.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780333482025
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan UK
Publication date:	01/14/1992
Series:	Feminism and the Occult Science in Victorian Literature and
Edition description:	1992
Pages:	253
Product dimensions:	5.51(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

DIANA BASHAM

Table of Contents

Preface - Frankenstein's Monster: Lady Byron and Victorian Feminism - Women Clothed with the Sun: The Prophetic Element in Nineteenth-Century Women's Discourse - The Demon Redeemed: Witchcraft, Mesmerism and Harriet Martineau's Ear-Trumpet - Out of the Body: Spiritualism, Communications and the Law - Life after Spiritualism: Victorian Women's Ghost Stories - Through the Looking Glass: Madame Blavatsky and the Occult Mother - Appendix - Bibliography - Notes - Index