Desire and Domestic Fiction argues that far from being removed from historical events, novels by writers from Richardson to Woolf were themselves agents of the rise of the middle class. Drawing on texts that range from 18th-century female conduct books and contract theory to modern psychoanalytic case histories and theories of reading, Armstrong shows that the emergence of a particular form of female subjectivity capable of reigning over the household paved the way for the establishment of institutions which today are accepted centers of political power. Neither passive subjects nor embattled rebels, the middle-class women who were authors and subjects of the major tradition of British fiction were among the forgers of a new form of power that worked in, and through, their writing to replace prevailing notions of "identity" with a gender-determined subjectivity. Examining the works of such novelists as Samuel Richardson, Jane Austen, and the Brontës, she reveals the ways in which these authors rewrite the domestic practices and sexual relations of the past to create the historical context through which modern institutional power would seem not only natural but also humane, and therefore to be desired.

"A strikingly original treatment of the rise of the novel, Desire and Domestic Fiction makes a major contribution to feminist theory, to the understanding of the role of gender in culture and its relation to political change, and to studies in the history of the British novel. Its successful application of contemporary theory, especially its use of Foucault's History of Sexuality, will interest scholars involved in the criticism of culture"--Jacket.

The Novel: An Anthology of Criticism and Theory 1900–2000 is a collection of the most influential writings on the theory of the novel from the twentieth century. Traces the rise of novel theory and the extension of its influence into other disciplines, especially social, cultural and political theory. Broad in scope, including sections on formalism; the Chicago School; structuralism and narratology; deconstruction; psychoanalysis; Marxism; social discourse; gender; post-colonialism; and more. Includes whole essays or chapters wherever possible. Headnotes introduce and link each piece, enabling readers to draw connections between different schools of thought. Encourages students to approach theoretical texts with confidence, applying the same skills they bring to literary texts. Includes a volume introduction, a selected bibliography, an index of topics and short author biographies to support study.

A captivating collection of essays, Desire delves headfirst into its subject matter and explores the complexity of desire with essays about the things women want, crave, lust after, and covet. An extraordinary group of writers tackle difficult and taboo subjects, from Debra Magpie Earling s desire to hurt someone, to New York Times writer S. S. Fair s less than diminishing sensual and sexual desire, despite her increasing age, to Julia Serano s strong emotional impulse to be a woman before she decided to transition from male to female. Many of these essayists examine the feelings and experiences which surround the things they want but can tor shouldn thave. The reasons such desires are taboo are often personal and range from social conventions and religious teachings to more concrete laws and rules. Desire makes the private public and illuminates the rich and varied desires women have."

It seems safe to assume that people started to drop things as soon as they started to pick them up, and that even the most aboriginal litterings and spillages did not pass entirely without comment. Mess is age-old and universal, both as phenomenon and as topic. The evidence collected in thisbook suggests, however, that the second half of the nineteenth century saw the first stirrings in Western culture of a primary interest in mess for its own sake: a development which had something to do with the gradual fading, amid a great deal of reassertion, of doctrines of determinism; andsomething to do with democracy, which would be hard to imagine without litter. Messes, like modern identities, happen by accident; their representation, in painting and fiction, made it possible to think boldly and inventively about chance. Ranging widely-from Turner to Courbet, Cezanne, and Degas,and from Melville to Maupassant, Chekhov, Gissing, and the New Woman writers-this book outlines a style of commentary on modern life in which the ancient dichotomy of order and chaos (culture and anarchy) was supplanted, at least temporarily, by a distinction between different kinds and qualities ofmess.

George Haggerty examines the 'unnatural' affections that defy cultural taboos and challenge what are seen as natural boundaries to desire. Such affections abound in 18th century novels offering understanding into gender and female desire.