Passion, penury and psychosis: Representations of the spinster by interwar dramatists

D'Monté, Rebecca

Abstract

The impact of first-wave feminism and the First World War led to the spinster - someone who is past her marriageable date - becoming a repository during the interwar period for society’s fears and anxieties about the place of the older woman, as well as a reminder about all that had been lost during the war. Dramatic representations were generally of an economically disruptive and sexually disturbing figure, although other – mainly female – playwrights tried to redress the balance by presenting the spinster in a more enlightened manner.

Citation

D'Monté, R. (2012). Passion, penury and psychosis: Representations of the spinster by interwar dramatists. In J. Dolan, & E. Tincknell (Eds.), Aging Femininities: Troubling Representations (3-16). Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Press

• Publication Date: Jun 1, 2012
• Deposit Date: Sep 20, 2013
• Publicly Available Date: May 31, 2016
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Pages: 3-16
• Book Title: Aging Femininities: Troubling Representations
• ISBN: 9781443838832
• Keywords: spinster, interwar dramatists
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/946744
• Publisher URL: http://www.c-s-p.org/Flyers/Aging-Femininities--Troubling-Representations-1-4438-3883-7.htm
• Additional Information: Additional Information : Published with the permission of Cambridge Scholars Publishing