Misogynous Economies: The Business of Literature in Eighteenth-Century Britain

Abstract

Modern conceptions of literature and of industrial capitalism emerged during the 18th century. Laura Mandell suggests that only an analysis of sexism can demonstrate how these concepts became linked. Offering a previously unexplored view of derogatory representations of women, this text demonstrates the ways in which a range of authors used misogyny to promote, resist and critique new capitalist forms. The book also reveals how contemporary feminist critics have misunderstood misogyny's function. Arguing that the oppression of women may not have been the primary goal, Mandell shows that passionate feelings about socioeconomic changes were displaced onto representations that inspired hatred of women and disgust with the female body. Such displacements also played a role in canon formation, which Mandell sees as the result of practices designed to stimulate readers' desires to identify with male poets.

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