From Bennets to Bridget: the Construction of the Ideal Woman in Nineteenth-Century Women's Literature and Contemporary Chick Lit

Authors

Emily Tarr, The College of Wooster

Abstract

My project explores the construction of the ideal woman in nineteenth-century women's literature and contemporary chick lit. The texts I examine are Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre, The House of Mirth, Bridget Jones's Diary, Sex and the City, The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic, and The Devil Wears Prada. I investigate how female characters in these works construct their ideal selves in response to mass cultural standards as well as their own personal definitions of what it means to be ideal. I examine these concepts mainly through the lenses of postfeminism, gender studies, and post-structuralism.

Advisor

Hayward, Jennifer

Department

English

Recommended Citation

Tarr, Emily, "From Bennets to Bridget: the Construction of the Ideal Woman in Nineteenth-Century Women's Literature and Contemporary Chick Lit" (2011). Senior Independent Study Theses. Paper 485.
https://openworks.wooster.edu/independentstudy/485

Disciplines

American Popular Culture | Comparative Literature | Women's Studies

Keywords

chick lit, gender studies, postfeminism

Publication Date

2011

Degree Granted

Bachelor of Arts

Document Type

Senior Independent Study Thesis