The Enemy Within: the Housekeeper in Victorian Fiction
The introduction in the 1851 census of the new category of ‘housewife’ as distinct from the paid post of ‘housekeeper’, suggests that the Victorian cult of domesticity had created its own gendered ethical economy. This paper explores some of the ways in which the figure of the housekeeper in Victori...
Saved in:
Main Author: | |
---|---|
Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Presses Universitaires de la Méditerranée
2005-12-01
|
Series: | Cahiers Victoriens et Edouardiens |
Online Access: | https://journals.openedition.org/cve/14179 |
Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
_version_ | 1832581221488525312 |
---|---|
author | Elisabeth Jay |
author_facet | Elisabeth Jay |
author_sort | Elisabeth Jay |
collection | DOAJ |
description | The introduction in the 1851 census of the new category of ‘housewife’ as distinct from the paid post of ‘housekeeper’, suggests that the Victorian cult of domesticity had created its own gendered ethical economy. This paper explores some of the ways in which the figure of the housekeeper in Victorian fiction became the site for the expression of a series of class and gender anxieties and why Victorian writers were particularly alive to the potential threat posed by a servant whose role was that of understudy. |
format | Article |
id | doaj-art-2ad135ad32ff433c94b39a84f8a15f9a |
institution | Kabale University |
issn | 0220-5610 2271-6149 |
language | English |
publishDate | 2005-12-01 |
publisher | Presses Universitaires de la Méditerranée |
record_format | Article |
series | Cahiers Victoriens et Edouardiens |
spelling | doaj-art-2ad135ad32ff433c94b39a84f8a15f9a2025-01-30T10:21:28ZengPresses Universitaires de la MéditerranéeCahiers Victoriens et Edouardiens0220-56102271-61492005-12-016110.4000/11s9gThe Enemy Within: the Housekeeper in Victorian FictionElisabeth JayThe introduction in the 1851 census of the new category of ‘housewife’ as distinct from the paid post of ‘housekeeper’, suggests that the Victorian cult of domesticity had created its own gendered ethical economy. This paper explores some of the ways in which the figure of the housekeeper in Victorian fiction became the site for the expression of a series of class and gender anxieties and why Victorian writers were particularly alive to the potential threat posed by a servant whose role was that of understudy.https://journals.openedition.org/cve/14179 |
spellingShingle | Elisabeth Jay The Enemy Within: the Housekeeper in Victorian Fiction Cahiers Victoriens et Edouardiens |
title | The Enemy Within: the Housekeeper in Victorian Fiction |
title_full | The Enemy Within: the Housekeeper in Victorian Fiction |
title_fullStr | The Enemy Within: the Housekeeper in Victorian Fiction |
title_full_unstemmed | The Enemy Within: the Housekeeper in Victorian Fiction |
title_short | The Enemy Within: the Housekeeper in Victorian Fiction |
title_sort | enemy within the housekeeper in victorian fiction |
url | https://journals.openedition.org/cve/14179 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT elisabethjay theenemywithinthehousekeeperinvictorianfiction AT elisabethjay enemywithinthehousekeeperinvictorianfiction |