Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-mzp66 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-27T17:41:05.310Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

THE SYMPATHETIC INDIVIDUALIST: OUIDA'S LATE WORK AND POLITICS

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 May 2011

Andrew King
Andrew King*
Affiliation:
Canterbury Christ Church University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

For many years, the novels of Ouida (Maria Louise Ramé, 1839–1908), were rejected as offering nothing but commercially valuable “voluptuous daydreams” (Leavis 164) that catered to “the degenerate taste of the new reading public of the commercial middle class” (Elwin 282). Since the late 1980s, however, they have been read with renewed interest. Ouida has come to be recognised as a “forgotten mother” of the 1890s aesthetic movement (Schaffer, Female Aesthetes and “Origins”); as a significant player on the anti–feminist side in the New Woman debates of the 1890s (Gilbert); and, with seeming paradox, as a writer keen to explore sexual transgression (Jordan “Writings” and “Enigma”; Schroeder “Feminine”). While there has been a recent monograph on Ouida's fiction (Schroeder and Holt), her journalism remains largely ignored. In 1882, Ouida began to write literary criticism together with analyses and commentaries on the politics of the state and the organisation of society for several journals, including the Gentleman's Magazine, the Fortnightly Review, the Westminster Review, the North American Review and the Italian Nuova Antologia. This article examines Ouida's late journalism, with some adversion to her late fiction, in an attempt to establish her core set of political values at this time.

Type
Research Article
Information
Victorian Literature and Culture , Volume 39 , Issue 2 , September 2011 , pp. 563 - 579
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

WORKS CITED

Absalom, Roger. Italy Since 1800: A Nation in the Balance. London: Longman, 1995. Print.Google Scholar
Baedeker's Italy: a Handbook for Travellers: First Part, Northern Italy including Leghorn, Florence, Ravenna, the Island of Corsica. 4th ed. Leipsig: Baedeker, 1877. Print.Google Scholar
Barker, Rodney. Political Ideas in Modern Britain. London: Routledge, 1978. Print.Google Scholar
Bland, Lucy. “Feminist Vigilantes of Late–Victorian England.” Regulating Womanhood: Historical Essays on Marriage, Motherhood and Sexuality. Ed. Smart, Carol. London: Routledge, 1992. 33–52. Print.Google Scholar
Blunt, Wilfrid Scawen. My Diaries, being a Personal Narrative of Events, 1888–1914. 2 vols. London: Secker, 1919–1920. Print.Google Scholar
Bristow, Edward. “The Liberty and Property Defence League and Individualism.” The Historical Journal 18: 4 (1975): 761–89. Print.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bristow, Joseph, ed. Wilde Writings: Contextual Conditions. Toronto: U of Toronto P, 2003. Print.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cook's Handbook to Florence. Florence: Goodban, 1874. Print.Google Scholar
Cooper, Edward H. “Ouida.” Fortnightly Review (2 March 1908): 449–55. Print.Google Scholar
Donnisthorne, Wordsworth. “The Basis of Individualism.” Westminster Review 70 (July 1886): 118–56. Print.Google Scholar
Elwin, Malcolm. Victorian Wallflowers. London: Jonathan Cape, 1934. Print.Google Scholar
“The Fortnightly Review, 1865–1900.” Wellesley Index to Victorian Periodicals. Ed. Houghton, Walter E.. London: Routledge, Kegan, Paul, 1972. 5 vols. 2: 173–83. Print.Google Scholar
Gilbert, Pamela. “Ouida and the other New Woman.” Victorian Women Writers and the Woman Question. Ed. Thompson, Nicola Diane. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1999: 170–88. Print.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grand, Sarah. “New Aspects of the Woman Question.” North American Review 158 (1894): 271–76. Print.Google Scholar
Guy, Josephine. “‘The Soul of Man under Socialism’: A (Con)Textual History.” Wilde Writings: Contextual Conditions. Ed. Bristow, Joseph. Toronto: U of Toronto P, 2003. 59–85. Print.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Herbert, Auberon. “The Slow Destruction of the New Forest.” Fortnightly Review 49 (March 1891): 444–65. Print.Google Scholar
Herbert, Auberon. “Letter to the Editor,” London Times. 31 March 1894: 16. Times Digital Archive 1785–1985. Web. 2 Feb. 2011.Google Scholar
Herbert, Auberon. The Right and Wrong of Compulsion by the State and Other Essays [1885]. Ed. with an introduction by Mack, Eric. Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 1978. Print.Google Scholar
Herbert, Auberon. “Under the Yoke of Butterflies.” Fortnightly Review 50 (October 1891): 487–505; 51 (January 1892): 44–64. Print.Google Scholar
Huntingdon, Henry G.Memories. London: Constable, 1911. Print.Google Scholar
“Italy.” London Times (31 July 1879): 5 Times Digital Archive 1785–1985. Web. 2003. 2 Feb. 2011.Google Scholar
Jordan, Jane. “The Writings of ‘Ouida’ (Marie Louise de la Ramée).” Diss. Birkbeck College, U of London, 1995. Print.Google Scholar
Jordan, Jane “Ouida. The Enigma of a Literary Identity.” Princeton University Library Chronicle 57 (1995): 75–105. Print.Google Scholar
Kirk, Russell. The Conservative Mind. 7th rev. ed. Washington: Regnery, 1985. Print.Google Scholar
Leavis, Queenie. Fiction and the Reading Public. London: Chatto and Windus, 1932. Print.Google Scholar
Ledger, Sally. The New Woman: Fiction and Feminism at the fin de siècle. Manchester: Manchester UP, 1997. Print.Google Scholar
Lee, Elizabeth. Ouida: a Memoir. London: Fischer Unwin, 1914. Print.Google Scholar
“London, Monday, 30 August 1871” Editorial. London Times (30 August 1879): 5. Times Digital Archive 1785–1985. Web. 2 Feb. 2011.Google Scholar
“London, Monday, September 1, 1879” Editorial. London Times (1 September 1879): 9. Times Digital Archive 1785–1985. Web. 2 Feb. 2011.Google Scholar
London Times. 30 August 1871: 7. Times Digital Archive 1785–1985. Web. 2 Feb. 2011.Google Scholar
Malato, Charles. “Some Anarchist Portraits.” Fortnightly Review 56 (Sept. 1894): 313–33. Print.Google Scholar
Mallock, W. H.A Critical Examination of Socialism. New York: Harper Brothers, 1907. Print.Google Scholar
Mallock, W. H.. “Fabian Economics – Part I” and “Fabian Economics – Part II.” Fortnightly Review 55 (Feb. 1894): 159–82; (March 1894): 393–409. Print.Google Scholar
Mallock, W. H.. “Marriage and Free Thought.” Fortnightly Review 50 (August 1891): 259–78. Print.Google Scholar
Mallock, W. H.. Memoirs of Life and Literature. London: Chapman and Hall, 1920. Print.Google Scholar
Mallock, W. H.. Social Reform as Related to Realities and Delusions. London: John Murray, 1914. Print.Google Scholar
Nazione. (9 settembre 1871): 2. Print.Google Scholar
Neville, Lady Dorothy. Under Five Reigns. London: Methuen, 1910. Print.Google Scholar
1913 Annual Report of the PRA records quoted in “Personal Rights Association.” . http://dic.academic.ru/dic.nsf/enwiki/4643436. Web. 22 Feb. 2011.Google Scholar
O'Brien, M. D.The Natural Right to Freedom. London: Williams and Norgate, 1893. Print.Google Scholar
Ouida. An Altruist, and Four Essays. London: Unwin, 1897. Print.Google Scholar
Ouida. Ariadnê: the Story of a Dream. 3 vols. London: Chapman & Hall, 1877. Print.Google Scholar
Ouida. “Art and Archaeology in Rome.” Letter to the London Times (2 Sept. 1879): 8. Times Digital Archive 1785–1985. Web. 2 Feb. 2011.Google Scholar
Ouida. “The Blind Guides of Italy.” Fortnightly Review 51 (Jan. 1892): 65–80. Print.Google Scholar
Ouida. “The Centre of Florence.” Letter to the London Times (19 Jan. 1889): 15. Times Digital Archive 1785–1985. Web. 2 Feb. 2011.Google Scholar
Ouida. “The Centre of Florence.” Letter to the London Times. (30 Jan. 1889): 4. Times Digital Archive 1785–1985. Web. 2 Feb. 2011.Google Scholar
Ouida. “A Chat about Gardens.” North American Review 150 (June 1890): 733–39. Print.Google Scholar
Ouida. “Cities of Italy.” North American Review 144 (Nov. 1886): 462–77. Print.Google Scholar
Ouida. “Conscription.” Fortnightly Review 52 (Aug. 1892): 211–16. Print.Google Scholar
Ouida. Critical Studies. London: Unwin, 1900. Print.Google Scholar
Ouida. Dogs. London: Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent, 1897. Print.Google Scholar
Ouida. “The Genius of D'Annunzio.” Fortnightly Review 61 (March 1897): 349–73. Print.Google Scholar
Ouida. “Georges Darien.” Fortnightly Review 62 (Sept. 1897): 341–57. Print.Google Scholar
Ouida. “Has Christianity Failed?.” North American Review 153 (Feb. 1891): 209–21. Print.Google Scholar
Ouida. “Imperialismo inglese.” Nuova Antologia 170 (16 April 1900): 729–42. Print.Google Scholar
Ouida. “Italy I; The Marquis di Rudini and Italian Politics.” Fortnightly Review 60 (Sept. 1896): 350–62. Print.Google Scholar
Ouida. “Joseph Chamberlain.” Nuova Antologia 168 (1 dic. 1899): 576–85. Print.Google Scholar
Ouida. “The Legislation of Fear.” Fortnightly Review 56 (Oct. 1894): 552–61. Print.Google Scholar
Ouida. Letter to Henry Drummond. Undated [1883?]. National Library of Scotland, MS. Acc. 5890/2. Print.Google Scholar
Ouida. Letter to Sydney Cockerell. 25 Aug. [1900]. BL Add MSS 52744. Print.Google Scholar
Ouida. Letter to Sydney Cockerell. 19 Dec. 1900. BL Add MSS 52744. Print.Google Scholar
Ouida. Letter to Sydney Cockerell. [Nov. 8, 1906]. BL Add MSS 52744. Print.Google Scholar
Ouida. Letter to Wilfrid Scawen Blunt. 24 April 1900. Blunt MSS, West Sussex Record Office, Chichester, Box 1. Print.Google Scholar
Ouida. The Massarenes. London: Sampson, Low, Marston, 1897. Print.Google Scholar
Ouida. Moths. Ed. Schroeder, Natalie. Peterborough: Broadview, 2005. Print.Google Scholar
Ouida. “The New Priesthood: A Protest against Vivisection.” New Review 8 (Feb. 1893): 151–64. Print.Google Scholar
Ouida. “The New Woman.” North American Review 158 (May 1894): 610–19, revised in Views and Opinions 205–222. Print.Google Scholar
Ouida. “Noticeable Books (No. II): Windfall and Waterdrift.” Nineteenth Century 40 (Nov. 1896): 760–65. Print.Google Scholar
Ouida. “The Obliteration of Florence.” National Review 16 (Nov. 1890): 303–09. Print.Google Scholar
Ouida. “The Passing of Philomel.” Views and Opinions: 131–44. Print.Google Scholar
Ouida. “The Ponte Sisto Fountain at Rome.” Letter to the London Times (12 Aug. 1879): 10. Times Digital Archive 1785–1985. Web. 2 Feb. 2011.Google Scholar
Ouida. “The Sins of Society.” Fortnightly Review 52 (Dec. 1892): 780–97. Print.Google Scholar
Ouida. “Some Fallacies of Science.” North American Review 142 (Feb. 1886): 139–52. Print.Google Scholar
Ouida. “The State as an Immoral Teacher.” North American Review 153 (Aug. 1891): 193–204. Print.Google Scholar
Ouida. “Sulla decadenza delle nazioni latine.” Nuova antologia 167 (16 Sept. 1899): 193–201. Print.Google Scholar
Ouida. “Unwritten Literary Laws.” Fortnightly Review 66 (Nov. 1899): 803–14. Print.Google Scholar
Ouida. “L'Uomo fatale.” Fortnightly Review 55 (March 1894): 355–64. Print.Google Scholar
Ouida. Views and Opinions. London: Methuen, 1895. Print.Google Scholar
Ouida. A Village Commune. London: Chatto & Windus, 1881. Print.Google Scholar
Ouida. “Vulgarity.” North American Review 144 (Feb. 1886): 148–60. Print.Google Scholar
Paget, Lady Walburga. In My Tower. 2 vols. London: Hutchinson, 1924. Print.Google Scholar
Ramsay, Balcarres D. W. “Archaeology in Rome.” Letter to the London Times (18 Aug. 1879): 10. Times Digital Archive 1785–1985. Web. 2 Feb. 2011.Google Scholar
Schaffer, Talia. The Forgotten Female Aesthetes: Literary Culture in Late–Victorian England. Charlottesville: Virginia UP, 2000. Print.Google Scholar
Schaffer, Talia. “‘Nothing but Foolscap and Ink’: Inventing the New Woman.” The New Woman in Fiction and Fact: Fin–de–Siècle Feminisms. Ed. Richardson, Angelique and Willis, Chris. London: Palgrave, 2001. 39–52. Print.Google Scholar
Schaffer, Talia. “The Origins of the Aesthetic Novel: Ouida, Wilde, and the Popular Romance.” Wilde Writings: Contextual Conditions. Ed. Bristow, Joseph. Toronto: U of Toronto P, 2003. 212–29. Print.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schroeder, Natalie. “Feminine Sensationalism, Eroticism, and Self–Assertion: M. E. Braddon and Ouida.” Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature 7 (1988): 87–103. Print.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schroeder, Natalie “Introduction.” Moths. By Ouida. Peterborough: Ontario, 2005. 9–36. Print.Google Scholar
Schroeder, Natalie, and Holt, Shari Hodges. Ouida the Phenomenon. Evolving Social, Political and Gender Concerns in her Fiction. Newark, U of Delaware P, 2008. Print.Google Scholar
Smith, Adam. The Theory of Moral Sentiments. Ed. Raphael, D. D. and Macfie, A. L.. Oxford: Clarendon P, 1976. Print.Google Scholar
Spencer, Herbert. The Man versus the State. London: Williams and Norgate, 1884. Print.Google Scholar
Taylor, M. W.Man versus the State: Herbert Spencer and Late Victorian Individualism. Oxford: Clarendon P, 1992. Print.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tusan, Michelle Elizabeth. “Inventing the New Woman: Print Culture and Identity Politics during the fin de siècle.” Victorian Periodicals Review 31.2 (1998): 169–82. Print.Google Scholar
“W.” “Garibaldi's River Projects.” Letter to the London Times (5 Sept. 1879): 5. Times Digital Archive 1785–1985. Web. 2 Feb. 2011.Google Scholar
Watner, Carl. “The English Individualists as they appear in Liberty” available at <http://www.uncletaz.com/liberty/english.html>, originally in Benjamin R. Tucker And The Chámpions Of Liberty: A Centenary Anthology. Ed. Coughlin, Michael E., Hamilton, Charles H., and Sullivan, Mark A.. St. Paul: Michael E. Coughlin and Mark Sullivan Publishers, 1986. Web. 2 Feb. 2011.Google Scholar
Webb, Beatrice. My Apprenticeship. Intro. Mackenzie, Norman. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1980.Google Scholar
Wilde, Oscar. “The Soul of Man Under Socialism.” Fortnightly Review 49 (Feb. 1891): 292–319.Google Scholar