Psyche’s Daughter of Today: Sara Jeannette Duncan and the New Woman

Authors

  • Michelle Gadpaille University of Maribor

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.4312/elope.4.1-2.59-68

Keywords:

Sara Jeannette Duncan, New Woman, Psyche, Canadian fiction

Abstract

The Canadian novelist Sara Jeannette Duncan (1861-1922) constructed a New Woman heroine in the fin-de- siecle novel; A Daughter of Today (1894). Written in the popular mode of the transatlantic novel; the work engages in debate on the appropriate construction of femininity in art and public life. The heroine; Elfrida Bell; descends from artist; to muse; to model; to painted image—a descent framed by a rival male artist and a hostile London art scene. Represented as Psyche; the heroine undergoes a quest and failure similar to the mythical one. Adaptation of the Psyche myth clarifies the position of Duncan in the spectrum of gender ideologies of the fin-de- siecle.

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Published

16. 06. 2007

How to Cite

Gadpaille, M. (2007). Psyche’s Daughter of Today: Sara Jeannette Duncan and the New Woman. ELOPE: English Language Overseas Perspectives and Enquiries, 4(1-2), 59-68. https://doi.org/10.4312/elope.4.1-2.59-68

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