Reviews

Ideala by Sarah Grand

jacob_longini's review against another edition

3.0

Definitely more of an educational read than it is an entertaining one, Grand's work communicates the many Women's Rights ideas that were circulating in the late 19th Century. Ideala represents a shift from liberal feminism to social purity feminism, something modern audiences will not find very satisfactory in the plot of the novel, but a very interesting case for scholars of women writers in the long 19th Century. The work is also interesting in its transition between the 19th Century conventions of literary realism to proto-modernist techniques that would rise in the 20th century. The introduction by Molly Youngkin (my professor of 19th Century Women's Literature) is very insightful, and her work in editing the edition as a whole is fantastic. The whole novel is filled with helpful footnotes in which Youngkin adds rich detail regarding the cultural context behind the story. Again, not a book for those looking to be entertained, but an essential read for scholars interested in related content.