Digital Humanities Commons^™

"More Than Custom Has Pronounced Necessary”: Exploring The Correlation Between Gendered Verbs And Character In The 19th Century Novel, Nebraska Literary Lab, Oliver Baylog, Laura Dimmit, Travis Heller, Gabi Kirilloff, Shannon Smith, Grace Thomas, Chandler Warren, James Wehrwein

Department of English: Presentations, Talks, and Seminar Papers

During the 19th century, gender politics played a crucial role in shaping the emergence of the novel as a popular and successful form of literature. Not only were middle class women becoming an important part of the reading public, women were also authoring novels and creating complex heroines that at times pushed against, and at other times bolstered, traditional conceptions of propriety and femininity. Along with a rise in popularity came a rise in the critique of the novel as a valid literary genre; many critics claimed that novels were capable of corrupting their female readership. Authors responded to this …