The Revolt of Man is the satire of a female-dominated society of the 22nd century. Sir Walter Besant was a very broaden spirit, very attentive to the problems of his era, and very curious about history and politics. The Victorian era was the beginning of the Women’s suffrage. He was the brother-in-law of Annie Besant, a british socialist and activist, persecuted in 1877, for her campaigns for birth control. After two children and a legal separation in 1873 from his younger brother, Frank Besant, she became a prominent speaker for the national Secular Society, and a writer.
The novel comically reverses Victorian gender roles, and presents a dystopian vision of a female-dominated society, where women keep men in complete subordination, with disastrous effects. After the historic ‘Transfer of Power, ‘ women gradually take over the traditional men’s occupations and privileges becoming judges, doctors, lawyers, businesswomen and artists. Just effeminate men are allowed to live in passivity, submission and obedience to the females. Women hold all positions of power in society and men are submissive, with no property rights or access to higher education.
He pictures a dictatorship, where the ideal of the ‘Perfect Woman’ is enforced with absolute certainty and dissent ruthlessly punished. In the end society stagnates due to its rigid orthodoxy and a revolt against a single-gendered culture ensues. At one level Besant’s novel is an anti-suffragette novel, but in parts it can be read as a critique of any culture where one gender subjugates the other.
Inhoudsopgave
About the Editor
Further Reading
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Contents
Introduction by SILVIA LICCIARDELLO MILLEPIED
Preface to the Collins’ Edition (1896)
CHAPTER 1 – IN PARK LANE
CHAPTER 2 – THE EARL OF CHESTER
CHAPTER 3 – THE CHANCELLOR
CHAPTER 4 – THE GREAT DUCHESS
CHAPTER 5 – IN THE SEASON
CHAPTER 6 – WOMAN’S ENGLAND
CHAPTER 7 – ON THE TRUMPINGTON ROAD
CHAPTER 8 – THE BISHOP
CHAPTER 9 – THE GREAT CONSPIRACY
CHAPTER 10 – THE FIRST SPARK
CHAPTER 11 – A MARRIAGE MARRED
CHAPTER 12 – IN THE CAMP AT CHESTER TOWERS
CHAPTER 13 – THE NIGHT BEFORE THE BATTLE
CHAPTER 14 – THE ARMY OF AVENGERS
CONCLUSION
Over de auteur
SIR WALTER BESANT was a British novelist and historian born in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England in 1836. Besant was a prominent author and philanthropist, whose best work describing social evils in East London, helped set in motion movements to aid the poor. He influenced, and protected the rights of the authors becoming one of the founders, and first chair, of the Society of Authors, in United Kindom in 1884. After reading Besant’s ‘All in a Garden Fair’ (1883), Rudyard Kipling decided to leave India and make a career as a writer.While living in London, he began a literary collaboration with James Rice, editor of ‘Once a Week’. Together they produced several best-selling novels, including ‘Ready-Money Mortiboy’ (1872), ‘The Golden Butterfly’ (1876), and ‘The Chaplain of the Fleet’ (1881). In 1882 Besant published his first independent novel, ‘All Sorts and Conditions of Men’, based on stories about East London slums and the terrible social conditions of industrial workers, and collaborated actively with charities to provide education and a better condition of life to the slums of the area with the foundation of the People’s Palace, Mile End (1887). Another book ‘Children of Gibeon’ (1886), draws attention to the slum life. Besant was knighted in 1895 for his tirelessly work for charities. His many works include ‘Dorothy Forster’ (1884), ‘Armorel of Lyonesse’ (1890), and ‘The Inner House’ (1887). He died in 1901.
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