ABSTRACT

This paper demonstrates how the nineteenth-century writer Margaret Oliphant drew upon her domestic identity to write in radical ways which could educate and inform her young female readership. Through the exploration of two female characters, Catherine Vernon in Hester (1883) and Kirsteen Douglas in Kirsteen (1890), the paper demonstrates how Oliphant represented the importance of opportunities available for young women within “extended domesticity”, a version of the domestic space which extended beyond conventional boundaries to include all women. Through representations of female characters like Catherine and Kirsteen, who had careers and even businesses, of their own, Oliphant showed the possibilities available for women whose lives did not fit into the conventional mould of marriage and maternity. Hester and Kirsteen allow Oliphant to represent two very different versions of domesticity, and to reinforce the necessity for an extended version of it, which allows women the space to find personal growth and fulfilment. The paper engages with the scholarship of critics such as George Levine and Katherine Mullin to explore Oliphant’s radical voice and to reinforce her place as an important writer.

摘要

本文展示了 19 世纪作家玛格丽特·奥利芬特 (Margaret Oliphant) 如何利用她的家庭身份以激进的方式写作，以教育和告知她的年轻女性读者。通过两个女性角色的探索，凯瑟琳·弗农在赫斯特（1883年）和克里斯汀·道格拉斯在克里斯汀（1890 年），这篇论文展示了 Oliphant 如何代表“扩展家庭生活”中年轻女性可获得的机会的重要性，这是一种超越传统界限的家庭空间版本，包括所有女性。通过对凯瑟琳和克尔斯汀等女性角色的表现，她们有自己的职业甚至事业，Oliphant 向那些生活不符合传统婚姻和生育模式的女性展示了可用的可能性。海丝特和克尔斯汀允许 Oliphant 代表两种截然不同的家庭生活，并强调其扩展版本的必要性，这让女性有空间寻找个人成长和成就感。该论文与乔治·莱文 (George Levine) 和凯瑟琳·穆林 (Katherine Mullin) 等评论家的学术合作，探索奥利芬特激进的声音并巩固她作为重要作家的地位。