The Odd Women, by George Gissing is a novel of social realism; it is a story that centers upon the decisions that people make in life and the outside factors that influence these decisions. Gissing looks at the situations of five different women and utilizes their lives to make observations about both the women themselves and the Victorian society in which they must live. The Odd Women reflects the major sexual and cultural issues of the late nineteenth century. Unlike the "New Woman" novels of the era which challenged the idea that the unmarried woman was superfluous, Gissing satirizes that image and portrays women as "odd" and marginal in relation to an ideal. Set in a grimy, fog-ridden London, Gissing's "odd" women range from the idealistic, financially self-sufficient Mary Barfoot to the Madden sisters who struggle to subsist in low paying jobs and little chance for joy. With narrative detachment, Gissing portrays contemporary society's blatant ambivalence towards its own period of transition.
- ISBN13 9781105733802
- Publish Date 7 May 2012
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 25 June 2021
- Publish Country US
- Imprint Lulu.com
- Format eBook (OEB)
- Language English