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Article: Jack London's new woman: a little lady with a big stick. (The Genders of Naturalism)
- Article from:
- Studies in American Fiction
- Article date:
- September 22, 1994
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1994 Northeastern University. 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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"I stand, not for the new woman, but for the new womanhood." Frona Welse in Jack London, A Daughter of the Snows (1902)
On January 10, 1903, a reviewer for The Literary Digest's "Notable Books of the Day" observed that Jack London in his first novel, A Daughter of the Snows, had "created a new woman, something elemental, physically almost savage, but with touches of the eternal feminine that prevent her being a man in petticoats."(1) This statement resonated powerfully at the time. During the 1870s and 1880s female athleticism had been viewed critically by such influential medical authorities as Edward Clarke and George Beard.(2) With the increasing visibility ...