British women writers were enormously influential in the creation of public opinion and political ideology during the years from 1780 to 1830. Anne K. Mellor demonstrates the many ways in which they attempted to shape British public policy and cultural behavior in the areas of religious and governmental reform, education, philanthropy, and patterns of consumption. Surveying all the genres of literature -- drama, poetry, fiction, nonfiction prose, and literary criticism -- Mellor shows how women writers promoted a new concept of the ideal woman as rationally educated, sexually self-disciplined, and, above all, virtuous. This New Woman, these writers said, was better suited to govern the nation than were its current fiscally irresponsible, lecherous, and corruptible male rulers.

Mothers of the Nation: Women's Political Writing in England, 1780-1830 (Women of Letters)

Literature & Fiction

Mellor, Anne Kostelanetz

History & Criticism

Indiana University Press

This innovative study gives a powerfully argued view of Mary Shelley's life and works, using not only her masterpiece, but also The Last Man and other fiction. Drawing on unpublished archival material, Anne Mellor studies the relationships between Mary Shelley, her husband Percy Bysshe Shelley, and other key personalities in her circle. Throughout the book, the ways in which Mary Shelley's life and writings voice a distinct personal philosophy about the bourgeois nuclear family are unfolded. Not just a horror story, Frankenstein is a warning about parents who fail to care for their children, when Shelley's ideal family' is absent, and when scientists refuse to take responsibility for their discoveries. At the same time, she emerges as a critic of the romantic ideology that elevates the creative process above the created product.

Mary Shelley: Her Life, Her Fiction, Her Monsters

Biographies & Memoirs

Arts & Literature

Methuen, Inc.

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Books by Mellor, Anne Kostelanetz