The Odd Women

Introduction

(1893)

Fan of this book? Help us introduce it to others by writing an introduction for it. It's quick and easy, click here.

Recent Forum Posts on The Odd Women

Pall Mall Gazette's review of The Odd Women

This was the Pall Mall Gazette's review of The Odd Women when it first came. It summarizes what I thought of it: The Odd Women falls short of genius only through its author's characteristic limitations - the complete lack of dash, the strange occasional flatness of the writing, the curious blindness (effective too, in its way, and especially in this book) that refuses to see any colour in the world but grey. But to a modern mind it is, for all that, the most interesting novel of the year.

Posted By kev67 at Sun 30 Apr 2017, 1:15 PM in The Odd Women || 0 Replies

The Odd Women - not bad

I liked it, although the last few chapters were melancholic. Damage was irremedial; personality conflicts could not be resolved. At least everyone remained true to themselves. For a while, I thought Gissing had gone down the well worn path of troubled marriages and unpromising courtships, and I was disappointed he did not concentrate more on the ugly sisters, but in the end he came good.

Posted By kev67 at Mon 4 Aug 2014, 1:02 AM in The Odd Women || 0 Replies

The Odd Women - chapter 13

This has to be one of the brainiest and most astonishing chapters I have read in any historical book.

Posted By kev67 at Sun 20 Jul 2014, 12:28 AM in The Odd Women || 0 Replies

Rhoda Nunn - lesbian?

Rhoda Nunn amused me. Apart from being an out-an-out feminist, I can't help suspecting she is a lesbian. I wonder if she was one of the first portrayals of one in literature (1893). In the meeting between Virginia Madden and Rhoda Nunn in chapter 2 or 3, I was struck by Rhoda's manner of speech. It was sort of clipped and abrupt and rather to the point. In chapter 6, Rhoda Nunn has a bit of an argument with her boss, Miss Barfoot. They both want to help young women to become financially independent, but Rhoda is very hostile to marriage. Miss Barfoot asked her whether she had ever been in love with a man, and she replied once when she was fifteen.

Posted By kev67 at Wed 16 Jul 2014, 5:22 PM in The Odd Women || 1 Reply

Feminist fiction

Hello my fellow feminists :nod: I was just listening to Weekend Woman's Hour (BBC Radio 4). I hope you can access it if you're not in the UK. It was discussing feminist fiction. One of the books mentioned was The Odd Woman by George Gissing. It was described as an "amazing portrait of the oppression women were living through, but it's a good read as well." Of the two guests, one thought Jane Eyre was a good feminist, the other hated her. Both liked Hardy and thought Tess of the d'Urbervilles was a feminist novel (not sure about that myself). They thought Elizabeth Bennet from Pride and Prejudice was more of a feminist than Emma.

Posted By kev67 at Sat 18 Aug 2012, 4:47 PM in The Odd Women || 10 Replies

Post a New Comment/Question on The Odd Women

Quizzes on George Gissing

Please submit a quiz here.