Womens University Narratives,

18901945
Editor: Anna Bogen, McMicken College of Arts & Sciences, University of Cincinnati
Part I
4 Volume Set: c.1600pp: December 2014
978 1 84893 522 8: 234x156mm: 350/$625
Part II
4 Volume Set: c.1600pp: December 2015
978 1 84893 523 5: 234x156mm: 350/$625
w w w . p i c k e r i n g c h a t t o . c o m/ n a r r a t i v e s
From the late nineteenth century, womens
presence at university became more widely
accepted in Britain. Newly admitted to Oxford
and Cambridge, their numbers were relatively
small and their gains were hard won and fercely
contested. Yet they inspired a whole new genre of
fction and created a new archetype, the Girton
Girl.
Stories about womens lives and experiences while
at university proved to be popular. These works
contributed not only to the formation of public
opinion about education but also sparked debate
about many wider social and cultural issues,
from the place of the female writer in the literary
scene to the emergence of new discourses around
psychology and the body.
Yet as women gained greater acceptance in higher
education these early stories fell from favour. This
collection of largely forgotten and rare texts forms
a valuable primary resource for literature scholars
and those working on social history and the history
of womens education.
Texts are rare and have not been reprinted
since their original publication
Provides new insight into the history of
womens education
Contributes signifcantly to growing scholarly
interest in middlebrow literature
Editorial apparatus includes a general
introduction, volume introductions and
explanatory notes
PICKERING & CHATTO
PUBLISHERS
Newnham College: the womens lacrosse team, 1921
Illustrated London News Ltd/Mary Evans
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Ashgate Publishing Company
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Order Information
Related title
New Woman Fiction, 18811899
General Editor: Carolyn W de la L Oulton
Each novel makes an important contribution
to our understanding of the diverse and often
contradictory genre known as New Woman
fction New Books Online 19
Part I: 3 Volume Set: 1136pp: 2010
978 1 85196 641 7: 234x156mm: 275/$495
Part II: 3 Volume Set: 816pp: 2010
978 1 85196 642 4: 234x156mm: 275/$495
Part III: 3 Volume Set: 976pp: 2011
978 1 85196 643 1: 234x156mm: 275/$495
www.pickeringchatto.com/newwoman
Part I
In Statu Pupillari (1907): This is a very early text describing
student life in detail, which will have particular appeal for
scholars of the long nineteenth century, when the story is set.
The Girls of Merton College (1914): One of the lesser-known
texts by prolifc nineteenth-century author L T Meade.
Meade has received scholarly attention recently, especially
by those researching gender studies. Merton is a particularly
interesting text as it is set at Cambridge the majority of
womens university fction is set at Oxford. It was originally
written for a juvenile audience and will appeal to scholars of
childrens literature.
A College Girl (1913): This story frst appeared in a periodical
(Girls Own Paper) and was written by Jessie Vaizey, a
prolifc short-story writer of public school narratives. The text
itself is set at Cambridge and has a particularly interesting
focus on chaperonage and courtship within an academic
setting, making it of special interest to scholars of gender
studies.
The Pearl (1917): Like A College Girl, The Pearl falls into
the school story genre. The text focuses heavily on religion
at Oxford and will be of interest to scholars looking at the
gendering of religious practice and discourse, particularly in
the long nineteenth century. The novel also has a connection
to St. Hildas College, Oxford, through its author G W Taylor,
who was a student there, as was her writing partner, the
historical novelist D K Broster.
Part II
Neapolitan Ice (1928): Set at Oxford, this story is particularly
interesting for its portrayal of university politics in the 1920s.
Its author, Renee Haynes, came from a well-connected
literary family and became a minor public intellectual. The
text will appeal to modernist scholars working on interwar
political literature.
Hot House (1933): One of the most disturbing and haunting
of womens university novels, Hot House clearly shows the
infuence of early psychoanalysis on shifting discourses of
sexuality and gender. It also engages with modernist aesthetic
practice, and works well as a problematic middlebrow text of
the period.
Our Young Barbarians: or, Letters from Oxford (1935):
This novel employs an epistolary structure and frst-person
narration to describe the heroines time at Oxford. It contains
many descriptions of academic work more so than other
fction of the period.
Rosy-Fingered Dawn [A Novel] (1934): This story is
interesting in its use of multiple narrators, and features
both male and female viewpoints. It is written in a proto-
Modernist style, making it of special interest to scholars of
early Modernism as well as gender studies.
Shorter fction/factual accounts:
J G G, From Doubt to Faith: The Story of a Newnham Girl
(1896) ; L T Meade, Girton College, Atalanta (18934);
L T Meade, Newnham College, Atalanta (18934);
Elizabeth Bisland, Women at Oxford, Harpers Bazaar
(1891); Katherine St. John Conway, University Degrees
for Women: Their History and Value, Girls Own Paper
(1895); One of them: Some Girl Graduates, Girls Own
Paper (1897); H Reinherz, The Girl Graduate in Fiction, The
Living Age (1911); Bits in the Life of a Missionary Student,
Girls Own Paper (1917); At Oxford: Some Letters from an
Undergraduette, Girls Own Paper (19289); C Hughes,
Up: a Magic Word, Girls Own Paper (1929); M Nicolson,
Scholars and Ladies, Yale Review (1930)
Contents