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The Reception of ‘New Women’ In The Yellow Book

Samantha Lacy

Ryerson University

INTRODUCTION

The Yellow Book was an illustrated Quarterly circulated in England and America beginning in 1894 and ending in 1897, producing 13 Volumes. Bodley Head, publisher of The Yellow Book, claimed that the publication would be much more interesting and unusual than other cotemporary magazines (Beckson & Lasner 402). Two works within The Yellow Book that illustrate varying receptions and encouragements of female independence within the 1890’s are Gertrude D. Hammond’s painting, "The Yellow Book" and Robert Shews' story, "The Elsingfords".

Front Cover

Patten Wilson

Hammond’s painting is of the visual art genre, appearing in the Sixth Volume, released in July 1895, and reproduced in half-tone process by the Swan Electric Engraving Company (Denisoff & Kooistra 2). The fictional short story, “The Elsingfords”, appears October of the following year in Volume 11. Robert Shews, the name signed to this story, appears to be a pseudonym for Henry Harland, the literary editor of The Yellow Book. Both this image and text can be analysed and interpreted through the cultural context of gender. Hammond’s “The Yellow Book” is set in a domestic scene in which a man and woman appear to be alone, and he is showing her The Yellow Book. She responds by blushing and maintaining an ashamed posture that is turned away from the book and the man. Harland’s satirical text has two main characters, Hennie, an American, and Herbert, an Englishman, and the two are a newly married couple. Herbert is domineered by the wife, who nags, cries, and makes all the decisions for them. Eventually this leads to the extreme outcome of Herbert’s death. The gender relations depicted in these pieces differ, but when analysed together they evoke a similar acceptance of female independence and the freedom to be a ‘New Woman’.

CONTEXT AND RECEPTION OF NEW WOMEN

Analyzing texts and images from publications of the “Yellow Nineties” is important in gaining deeper insight into the culture, opinions, and general lifestyles that were accepted at this time. To understand gender relations of the 1890’s one must look not only at what appears in the publications but also the reception from the public.To fully comprehend the feelings toward the 'New Woman' and the decline of male dominance one must acknowledge the various expressions and reactions revolving gender relations. In analysing the chosen text and image from The Yellow Book, one must also consider the avant-garde and progressive nature of the magazine. This approach is significant because through deciphering multiple interpretations and responses to the ‘New Women’ in a popular publication, the controversial nature of gender relations becomes more tangible.

Front Cover

Aubrey Beardsley

Existing literature on gender relations of the 1890’s provides insight into the politics surrounding the topic and its expression through literature. It especially reveals insight into the equality of woman as a subject not an object in Aesthetic and Decadence movements (Ledger 4). The representations of gender politics in such publications as The Yellow Book lack a deeper analysis of meaning and importance of interpreting the complex ways of expressing views, as it is all largely coded. In researching the titles of the chosen text and image there was no existing literature on either. This seems to insinuate that they were deemed inconsequential to reviewers, but they can still be significant to decoding gender relations in The Yellow Book.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial 3.0 United States License.