The Woman who did

The controversial subject matter of Grant Allen's novel, The Woman Who Did, made it a major bestseller in 1895. It tells the story of Herminia Barton, a university-educated New Woman who, because of her belief that marriage oppresses women, refuses to marry her lover even though she shares his bed and bears his child. Her ideals come into disastrous conflict with intensely patriarchal late Victorian England. Indeed, Allen intended his novel to shock readers into a serious exploration of some of the major issues in fin de siecle sexual politics, issues that he himself, in various periodical articles under the rubric of the "Woman Question," had played a leading role in opening up to public debate.

This Broadview edition contains a critical introduction as well as a rich selection of appendices which include excerpts from Allen's writings on women, sex, and marriage; contemporary writings on the "Sex Problem"; documents pertaining to the Marriage Debate; contemporary responses to the novel; and excerpts from two parodies of the novel.

Canadian scientific author and novelist Charles Grant Blairfindie Allen (February 24, 1848 - October 25, 1899) received his education in England. In the latter part of the nineteenth century, he actively promoted evolution in public. Allen was born in Kingston, Canada West, close to Wolfe Island (known as Ontario after Confederation). Joseph Antisell Allen, a Protestant pastor from Dublin, Ireland, was his father. Allen attended Merton College in Oxford and King Edward's School in Birmingham for his education. He joined Queen's Institution, a Jamaican black college, as a professor in his mid-20s. He was influenced by the associationist psychology of Herbert Spencer and Alexander Bain. He produced 30 books between 1884 and 1899, including the controversial The Woman Who Did. The Type-writer Girl and Olive Pratt Rayner were pen names used by English novelist Grant Allen. With the publication of The British Barbarians, he made history in the field of science fiction (1895). On October 25, 1899, Grant Allen passed away from liver cancer at his house in Haslemere, Surrey, England. Before finishing Hilda Wade, he passed away.