ABSTRACT

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book is concerned with Carey's construction of male characters. Given her class bias, the book compares the construction of her characters with texts constructing the English gentleman. It is contended that the conventions of 'gentlemanliness' are defined and regulated by, and exist solely for the benefit of, other men rather than women. The book turns to the stage upon which Carey's feminine dramas are performed: the home. It focuses upon the uneven nature of the nineteenth- and early twentieth-century home experience: men and children are serviced; women provide this servicing. The book deals with Carey's approach to insanity. A product of her own age and of the middle class, Carey inevitably reproduces the contemporary anxieties about irrationality and loss of self-control. The book explores Carey's positive and creative responses to the demographic phenomenon of more women than men.