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Article: The professional adrift in the Victorian novel (1) Agnes Grey.(Book Review)
- Article from:
- Victorian Newsletter
- Article date:
- September 22, 2003
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 Ward Hellstrom. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Anne Bronte's Agnes Grey, an unusual novel in that it puts work center stage, presents us with a professional world that might be thought to be safer than that of the Victorian factory or mine, but is presented as a dangerous one in which work seriously threatens health. Agnes is presented as a professional adrift in inimical circumstances and the novel anatomizes what happens to the human personality caught up in such a predicament. Away from the immediate physical danger of the factory or mine, the peril the heroine is prone to is psychological, a drip-drip wearing down of her well-being and health.
What makes her susceptible to such a threat to mental and ...