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Doctor's Wife, The by Mary Elizabeth Braddon (1835 - 1915)Author: LibriVox
This is one of the Victorian Sensationist Mary Elizabeth Braddon's many novels (best known among them: Lady Audleys Secret). It is extremely well written, fluid, humorous and, in places, self-mocking: one of the main characters is a Sensation Author. The motifs of the-woman-with-a-secret, adultery, and death are classic sensationist material. Yet this is also a self-consciously serious work of literature, taking on various social themes of the day. Specifically, Braddon presents the psychological struggle and cognitive dissonance which are the inevitable plight of the married middle-class woman with a strong sense of self, who is essentially constrained to live the life of her husband. In this, it echoes Flauberts Madame Bovary.The heroine, Isabel Sleaford, was driven early in her childhood to bury herself in, and develop her sense of self through, romantic novels and poetry. She is thus ill-adapted to the conventional, provincial structures and strictures laid upon her when she marries the very good and adoring, but also boring and unimaginative, Dr. George Gilbert. Isabel forms friendships with men (including her husband's best friend) who are more amenable to her romantic inclinations, and inevitably encounters social condemnation as a result. The book shows how lifes tragedies and the worlds cruel judgments shape Isabel, as she grows more mature, somewhat embittered, but also true to her nature beautifully resilient. (Summary by Kirsten Wever) Language: eng Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it |
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Chapter 1
Episode 1
Wednesday, 31 December, 1969
