"Trials and triumphs" : the heroine in selected novels of Anastasia English

Bulgin, Iona (1994) "Trials and triumphs" : the heroine in selected novels of Anastasia English. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

Anastasia English (1862?-1959) is Newfoundland's first significant female novelist. She was not only prolific in several genres - short stories, novels, and poems - but was also the editor of a local Christmas annual for at least forty years. Although her name has fallen into relative obscurity, her contribution as a writer is a valuable one. In the absence of any sustained commentary on either her life or her works, this thesis presents a brief biography, followed by an analysis of her major work. -- An examination of the plots of three of English's four novels - Only a Fisherman's Daughter (1899), Faithless (1901), and When the Dumb Speak (1938) - reveals a recurring motif: the heroine undergoes a series of trials, but ultimately triumphs over them and achieves happiness. The pattern of trial and triumph, found in many novels written by women writers in the nineteenth century, not only reflects the moral consciousness of the time but makes a statement about the readership. Plot analysis, with its focus on the didacticism inherent in all three novels, stresses the centrality of contemporary moral values for both the author and her readers.

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