E. NESBIT'S NEW WOMAN GOTHIC

This essay argues that Edith Nesbit's oft-anthologized short story ''Man-Size in Marble'' (1893) is both a successful Gothic chiller and a more politicized investigation of the plight of the artistically ambitious New Woman under patriarchy. It posits that while Gothic's anti-feminism during the fin de siecle is an increasingly familiar topic of study, little attention has yet been paid to the ways in which Gothic can also serve as a means of critiquing such attitudes. Through a close reading of Nesbit's story and a comparison with other relevant texts of the era, the essay suggests that the author's own radicalism, often overlooked by those who stereotype her as a writer for children, encourages her to expose the violence inherent within late nineteenth-century social systems. For Nesbit, the Gothic is the perfect instrument for such a project.