Of lovely tyrants and invisible women

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This book examines images of female illness and invalidism as a metaphor for women's invisibility in Victorian and fin-de-siècle America, particularly in the works of Ellen Glasgow. The author explores the Victorian cult of invalidism to reveal the mechanisms of patriarchy, warning against adherence to its values. Women are shaped into epitomes of delicacy and selflessness, ultimately reduced to a state of virtual nonexistence. Glasgow suggests that the doctrine of female self-effacement physically incapacitates women, undermining their autonomy as individuals. The female invalids in her fiction serve as uncanny mirrors, reflecting the self women become when they conform to traditional femininity and its principle of self-sacrifice. Biographical Note: Emma Domínguez-Ruiz graduated in English at the University of Lleida (Catalunya, Spain) and obtained an MA in English Literature at Swansea University (UK). She specialized in female invalidism in Glasgow's fiction and completed her PhD dissertation at the University of Lleida in 2005. In addition to American Studies, she has researched Victorian and Gothic fiction from a feminist perspective. Currently, she teaches in the Department of English at the University of Lleida and is a member of ENAS, a European research network focused on perspectives of aging in literature and culture.