Routledge Edging Women Out: Victorian Novelists and Social Change

Explore the shifting landscape of 19th-century literature with Edging Women Out by sociologist Gaye Tuchman. This work, part of the Routledge Library Editions: Women, Feminism and Literature, examines a major cultural transition. Before 1840, novel writing held little prestige and was a field dominated by women. However, by the turn of the twentieth century, the definition of great literature changed, and men began to occupy these professional roles. Tuchman provides a detailed analysis of how men successfully redefined culture and entered a white-collar occupation that was previously practiced mostly by women. The book tracks how men supplanted women as novelists as the profession became perceived as potentially profitable. This text offers deep insights into the social changes and professional shifts that altered the literary world forever. It is an essential read for those studying sociology, feminism, and the history of literature.