Suffer and Be Still: Women in the Victorian Age (Midland Giant)

Rating:
Summary: Entertaining and useful
Review: A very nice collection of essays about various aspects of the life of the Victorian woman. I read this book for the first time as a graduate student researching aspects of Victorian sexuality, but read it again recently just for my own interest and found that it kept me fascinated. Also includes a very nice (albeit dated) bibliography by S. Barbara Kanner. Essays include:

"The Victorian Governess: Status Incongruence in Family and Society" M. Jeanne Peterson

"From Dame to Woman: W.S. Gilbert and Theatrical Transvestism" Jane W. Stedman

"Victorian Women and Menstruation" Elaine and English Showalter

"Marriage, Redundancy or Sin: The Painter's View of Women in the First Twenty-Five Years of Victoria's Reign" Helene E. Roberts

"A Study of Victorian Prostitution and Venereal Disease" E.M. Sigsworth and T.J. Wyke

"Working Class Women in Britain, 1890-1914" Peter N. Stearns

"The Debate over Women: Ruskin vs. Mill" Kate Millet

"Stereotypes of Femininity in a Theory of Sexual Evolution" Jill Conway

"Innocent Femina Sensualis in Unconscious Conflict" Peter T. Cominos

Rating:
Summary: Writers and Monsters
Review: This book is an excellent source for anyone researching the Victorian era and the issues surrounding women writers. The book provides both statistical and interpretive information for any serious student or literary fan.