Devoted Sisters

This work seeks to explore and explain the power of the sister bond in 19th-century literature. Paired or grouped, allies or rivals, similar or (more usually) sharply contrasted, sisters offered an irresistible structuring framework to both novelists and readers. Texts which focus on contrasting sister heroines can be perceived as sites of urgent struggle, demanding that difficult choices be made by narrator, reader, hero and sister heroines. Sarah Annes Brown has researched a wide range of British and American texts, including both canonical works, such as "Pride and Prejudice", "Little Women" and "Middlemarch", as well as lesser-known novels by authors such as Dinah Mulock Craik and Catharine Sedgwick. In addition to contemporary resources such as conduct books, letters, and accounts of parliamentary proceedings, "Devoted Sisters" draws on psychoanalytical and anthropological research to illuminate 19th-century depictions of the sister relationship. Building on the work of Girard and Kosofsky Sedgwick, Brown concludes her study with an exploration of the "Deceased Wife's Sister Act" and the "lesbian incest effect".
As well as scholars and students of Victorian literature, this book is aimed at all readers with an interest in the dynamics of family relationships, particularly those who are or have a sister.