Negotiating a Feminist Consciousness: Textual Interactions in the Women’s Penny Paper

This thesis examines both the heteroglossia and intertextuality of three important sections of the Victorian Women’s Penny Paper—the correspondence columns, “Out and About” advice column, and advertising pages. A study of each section in conversation with the others reveals the ways in which the paper built upon the shared interests of its readers to create a community that fostered a feminist consciousness. Ultimately, the intersection of consumer culture and feminist ideals both echoed and shaped by the pages of the WPP highlights the ways late nineteenth-century feminists negotiated their feminist identities amidst complex and conflicting influences.