A Newly Discovered Novel and its Transnational Author: Maria Severn by Francisca Wood

ABSTRACT. This article focuses on a transnational Portuguese woman of letters, Francisca Wood, and her novel Maria Severn (1869), initially serialized in the pioneering weekly periodical that she directed, A Voz Feminina, later renamed O Progresso (1868–69). It draws on preliminary archival research...

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Veröffentlicht in:The Year's Work in Modern Language Studies. - Modern Humanities Research Association, 2009. - 32(2016), 1, Seite 48-61
Format: Online-Aufsatz
Veröffentlicht: 2016
Zugriff auf das übergeordnete Werk:The Year's Work in Modern Language Studies
Schlagworte:Arts Economics Business Social sciences Behavioral sciences
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Zusammenfassung:ABSTRACT. This article focuses on a transnational Portuguese woman of letters, Francisca Wood, and her novel Maria Severn (1869), initially serialized in the pioneering weekly periodical that she directed, A Voz Feminina, later renamed O Progresso (1868–69). It draws on preliminary archival research to provide new biographical information on Wood, which sheds fresh light on her progressive convictions and British connections. Using as source text what appears to be the only surviving copy of Maria Severn in book form — recently discovered in the British Library — I examine the role of Wood as cultural mediator and suggest that the incontrovertible originality of her novel may stem from her creative assimilation of Jane Austen, Elizabeth Gaskell and George Eliot. KEYWORDS. Periodical press, nineteenth-century novel, Francisca Wood, feminism, Anglo-Portuguese cultural relations, George Eliot
ISSN:22224297
DOI:10.5699/portstudies.32.1.0048