Victorian Dominatrices: Women of Arcane Power in Nineteenth-Century Fiction

Victorian Dominatrices examines representations of women of arcane power in the fiction by Charlotte Brontë, William Morris, Thomas Hardy, Vernon Lee and Ford Madox Ford. This book focuses on a variety of fictional genres (gothic, romance, naturalistic, fantastic, and impressionistic) and situates them in the fields of art, culture and society. By employing a multifaceted approach to literature, and offering new readings of such works as Jane Eyre, The Wood Beyond the World, The Woodlanders, Hauntings, and The Shifting of the Fire, this volume intends to put into dialogue mainstream literary productions and redefine the terms of critical debate about the New Woman.