Its Book Discussion Time Again!

2010 Spring Discussion Series

The New Woman

Presented by Lottie Wagoner

Associate Instructor of English

At the end of the Victorian Era, the New Woman emerged. She wanted to take up more space in the public arena. She wanted a voice in the way the government was run. She wanted the vote. She wanted to bob her hair, wear a short skirt, and dance the Charleston. The three novels we are reading this spring all feature protagonists who are New Women. Lily, Bea, and Mildred live during the beginning of the 20th century and break the gender norms of that time. Their lives are not only interesting historically, but also emotionally because their struggles are the struggles that women at the beginning of the 21st century still face. Each of these novels have been made into movies, so pop some corn as we will be viewing clips to decide if the book or the movie garners our “2 thumbs up.”