"If beauty is truth, is ugliness falsehood and deception? If all art need concern itself with is beauty, what need have we to explore in our literature the nature and consequences of ugliness?" In Plain and Ugly Janes, Charlotte Wright defines and...
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Kommunikations-, Informations- und Medienzentrum der Universität Hohenheim
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"If beauty is truth, is ugliness falsehood and deception? If all art need concern itself with is beauty, what need have we to explore in our literature the nature and consequences of ugliness?" In Plain and Ugly Janes, Charlotte Wright defines and explores the ramifications of a new character type in twentieth-century American literature, the "ugly woman," whose roots can be traced to the Old Maid/Spinster character of the nineteenth century. During the 1970s, stories began to appear in which the ugly woman is a figure of power-heroic not in the traditional old maid's way of quiet, passive acceptance, but in a way more in keeping with the active, masculine definition of heroic behavior. Wright uses these stories to discuss the nature and definitions of ugliness and the effects of female ugliness on both male and female literary characters in the works of a range of American authors. Wright concludes that the ugly woman character allows American authors to explore the ironies and inequalities inherent in the beauty system. Intro -- Contents -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- Part One: The Nature of Ugliness -- 1. Nineteenth-Century Precedents -- 2. Descriptions of Ugliness -- Part Two: The Consequences of Ugliness -- 3. The Effect of Ugliness on the Self -- 4. The Effect of Ugliness on Relations with Others -- Part Three: Ugly Women in Contemporary American Fiction -- 5. Adjusting the Stereotype -- 6. Anger, Sex and Fate -- 7. The Rise of the Ugly Woman -- 8. Becoming Something Powerful -- Bibliography -- Index.
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Contents; Preface; Acknowledgments; Part One: The Nature of Ugliness; 1. Nineteenth-Century Precedents; 2. Descriptions of Ugliness; Part Two: The Consequences of Ugliness; 3. The Effect of Ugliness on the Self; 4. The Effect of Ugliness on Relations with Others; Part Three: Ugly Women in Contemporary American Fiction; 5. Adjusting the Stereotype; 6. Anger, Sex and Fate; 7. The Rise of the Ugly Woman; 8. Becoming Something Powerful; Bibliography; Index;
