tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19922276.post2759634081026140450..comments2023-11-29T07:39:34.401+00:00Comments on Carla Nayland Historical Fiction: The Invisible Woman: the story of Nelly Ternan and Charles Dickens, by Claire Tomalin. Book reviewCarlahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11901028520813891575noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19922276.post-83940815409403999722015-08-30T13:36:22.665+01:002015-08-30T13:36:22.665+01:00Yes, the aristocracy could afford to disregard ...Yes, the aristocracy could afford to disregard 'respectability' - essentially no adverse consequences for bad behaviour. Whereas the middle classes and even the gentry were not so insulated if they lost their position in society; a disgraced professional could lose his livelihood, a disgraced family could lose the prospect of 'good' marriages.<br />You see something of the same dynamic in Jane Austen's novels. Her characters are mostly upper-middle-class or minor gentry (her own family was mainly middle-class professionals - clergymen, navy captains and so on, who depended on patronage and social connections to advance their careers as well as on their own abilities) - and her characters are profoundly constrained by the need to conform to polite society. Carlahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11901028520813891575noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19922276.post-12263826314855166842015-08-05T02:54:42.872+01:002015-08-05T02:54:42.872+01:00Come to think about it, 'respectability' (...Come to think about it, 'respectability' (perhaps more than prudery as such) seemed to be very near and dear to the Victorian mind. I'm inclined to link it to the rise of a middle class - a duchess could be scandalous and she was still a duchess, but the emerging middle class not so much.Rickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16932015378213238346noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19922276.post-46656548010687088482015-07-21T22:55:33.026+01:002015-07-21T22:55:33.026+01:00It could indeed be a selection bias. Or another m...It could indeed be a selection bias. Or another manifestation of the 'truth is stranger than fiction' effect.<br /><br />I'm no expert on Victoriana, so apply suitable quantity of salt - however, I wonder if the stereotype was to a large degree self-generated at the time. Dickens' insipid heroines presumably reflect some sort of social convention of the ideal; his work was enormously popular, and presumably the people who bought it liked the image that it projected. And one of the really striking things about 'Invisible Woman' is the lengths that Dickens and Nelly and Nelly's family appear to have gone to to hide all possible traces of their relationship. Dickens appears to have been obsessed with projecting a 'respectable' image of himself to his public, right in line with the stereotype. So presumably the stereotype was powerful at the time, as opposed to having arisen later. <br />Carlahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11901028520813891575noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19922276.post-82603613277475248822015-07-13T22:30:06.624+01:002015-07-13T22:30:06.624+01:00It seems that whenever I read anything about the p...It seems that whenever I read anything about the private lives of Victorians, they always seem more interesting, and, well, sexier, than the stereotype. Of course this could just be the selection effect of private lives interesting enough to get written about. <br /><br />All the same it does make me wonder exactly how the stereotype arose, and when (1920 era, or even 1910?), and how far past its sell-by date it is by now.Rickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16932015378213238346noreply@blogger.com