ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book addresses 'the problem of the intellectual woman's relationship to love', by exploring the ways gendered physical space—for example the construction of internal and external boundaries—are related to Romola's attempt to define her own place as an intellectual woman in the world around her. It suggests that suspense and foreshadowing urge a resistance to conventional authority, and both reader and protagonist learn to challenge authority through plotted doubts and experiments. The book argues that only through the renegotiation of social space and the active use of spoken language can Romola achieve a form of stable identity. It examines the overarching form of Romola, interrogating the persuasive power of plotted narrative. The book looks at the moments when Tito's 'dark past breaks into view', and he shudders, starts or blushes at mentions of lost fathers and guilty secrets.
