A formal and thematic analysis of the contribution of women writers to the birth of the modern short story in Britain: 1880-1910.

This project proposes to analyse the contribution made to the birth of the modern short story by women writers in Britain. Although the period under consideration (1880-1910) is a crucial one both for the development of the modern short story and for the emergence of the first women's movement, the interaction of both developments has been rather neglected in literary studies. This project aims to fill this gap by studying the short stories by women writers in terms of form and subject matter, with special attention to the convergence between both. For women writers eagerly embraced the new form of the short story as they felt it gave them greater freedom to broach new subjects and to dramatize alternative identities. Through a detailed analysis of the work of these short fiction writers, this project aims to give the short stories by women writers (1880-1910) a more prominent place in literary history, specifically the history of the short story and the history of women's writing. This close literary analysis will be conducted against the theoretical background of women's studies, gender studies, narrative theory and short story theory.

Keywords:Narrative theory, Short story, Women's studies, English literature, Literary history

Disciplines:Language studies, Literary studies, Theory and methodology of language studies, Theory and methodology of linguistics, Theory and methodology of literary studies, Other languages and literary studies