ABSTRACT
The discourse in Chapter 6 centers on hazards of inner turmoil and existential angst facing both female and male characters developed within novels written by George Gissing, H. G. Wells, May Sinclair, Virginia Woolf, and D. H. Lawrence. Attention to peril/protection language in The Odd Women , Ann Veronica , The Three Sisters , Night and Day , The Rainbow , and Women in Love illuminates intense battles between the sexes and joint risky ventures that modern couples of equal physical vigor embrace rather than avoid. What is particularly notable in these works are new shadings in the meaning of danger and safety that accompany skepticism toward time-worn definitions of femininity and masculinity and toward the promise of marriage as a lasting refuge. While all six novels retain traditional plot elements, the novels of Sinclair, Woolf, and Lawrence bring intense psychological depth, symbolism, and mystical dimension to the courtship novel genre. Through paradoxical phrasing, Woolf and Lawrence capture the fluidity of courting characters’ interior world.
