Women’s Writing in the British Isles from the Beginnings to the Present
Geraldine Jewsbury
-
Standard Name: Jewsbury, Geraldine
Birth Name: Geraldine Endsor Jewsbury
During her life, Geraldine Jewsbury
wrote six novels and two books for children. Widely published in Victorian periodicals, she was a respected reviewer, editor, and translator. Her periodical publications ranged from theatre reviews, short fiction, and children's literature to articles on social issues and religion. GJ
greatly influenced the Victorian publishing industry and public taste through her position as reviewer for the Athenæum and her role as reader for publishers Richard Bentley and Son
and Hurst and Blackett
.
Its fascination with poisoning, topical criminality, and female villainy within the domestic sphere places this story squarely in the midst of the sensation novel phenomenon. The Athenæum review (this time written by Geraldine Jewsbury
...
Literary responses
Emma Robinson
Geraldine Jewsbury
, again reviewing ER
for the Athenæum, this time made no reference of any kind to her gender.
Athenæum. J. Lection.
1947 (1865): 233
Jewsbury praised Dorothy Firebrace as a clever, vigorous, effective novel, rough...
Literary responses
Anne Thackeray Ritchie
Geraldine Jewsbury
in the Athenæum saw considerable promise in the book, but blamed it for verging on a treatment of incest which ought to be . . . inadmissable for a novel.
Shankman, Lillian F., and Anne Thackeray Ritchie. “Biographical Commentary and Notes”. Anne Thackeray Ritchie: Journals and Letters, edited by Abigail Burnham Bloom et al., Ohio State University Press, p. various pages.
67
The Athenaeum Index of Reviews and Reviewers: 1830-1870. http://replay.web.archive.org/20070714065452/http://www.soi.city.ac.uk/~asp/v2/home.html.
The Athenæum review, by Geraldine Jewsbury
, saw CR
's release of her actual name as a major literary event. But she thought the novel itself not up to CR's best standard. She found in...
Reception
Charlotte Riddell
The Athenæum reviewer for this novel—again Geraldine Jewsbury
—thought that CR
was back on form in this better-structured, more clearly narrated novel. She admired the way that Heather's character is seen in action, and complained...
Literary responses
Charlotte Riddell
Geraldine Jewsbury
, reviewing The Moors and the Fens for the Athenæum in the year after publication, judged that although it had some interest, it had nothing of nature: The whole story resembles a child's...
Literary responses
Charlotte Riddell
Geraldine Jewsbury
reviewed this novel too for the Athenæum the year after publication, and she found it excellent . . . powerfully and carefully written, far superior to CR
's work heretofore.
Athenæum. J. Lection.
1947 (1865): 233
Textual Production
Adelaide Procter
Here AP
's wide literary connections paid off handsomely. Contributors to The Victoria Regia included some of the most prominent names in literature of the day, mingled with less prominent writers who were also feminists:...
Publishing
Ouida
The success of Ouida's Strathmore had led publisher RichardBentley
to consider luring her from Chapman and Hall
; while Under Two Flags was still in manuscript, he commissioned a reader's report from Geraldine Jewsbury
Literary responses
Ouida
Editorial reader Geraldine Jewsbury
, commissioned by RichardBentley
to report on this novel at its manuscript stage, wrote scathingly (on 29 December 1865) that it was not a story that will do any man...
Literary responses
Ouida
The Athenæum's mixed review of the published novel is also attributed to Jewsbury
. It ostensibly applauds the book's readability and pluck while implicitly criticizing its implausibility. The characters, for example, are described as...
Textual Production
Frances Notley
FN
published Olive Varcoe, A Novel under her pseudonym Francis Derrick.
The earliest edition listed in OCLC WorldCat is a Boston one of 1870 (followed by a Toronto edition in 1871). Neither the British Library
Publishing
Harriet Martineau
HM
seems to have considered the wide circulation of Dickens
's Household Words too good an opportunity for influence to be passed up. Among the stories she contributed were Woodruffe the Gardener, The People...
Literary responses
Florence Marryat
Geraldine Jewsbury
, reviewing this novel for the Athenæum, made no attempt to hide her irritation with it. She observed that the ideas of women on points of morals and ethics seem in a...
Literary responses
Eliza Lynn Linton
Geraldine Jewsbury
, reviewing this novel for the Athenæum, was none too complimentary. She thought the author had offered an ineffective sermon on this excellent moral: clever, as anything she writes is likely to...
