Woman and the Demon: The Life of a Victorian Myth

Ms. Auerbach takes the reader back to the Victorian ages through the medias of art and literature to examine the image of the female during the period. She portrays the image of the female as "Mythic" - that is, as very broad and also very powerful, effecting the entire age and the ages to come. She discusses such works as Svengali, The New Magdalen, and the artistic works of Rossetti. Her thesis is basically that during the Victorian Era there was a sort of "crisis of faith," and the image of the woman stepped up to replace the ideas held by religions, thereby becoming angelic or demonic. The book is well written, thought provoking and informitive in its presentation.