COMPLETE The Story of a Modern Woman (version 2) by Ella Hepworth Dixon - dc

Solo or group recordings that are finished and fully available for listeners
beeber
Posts: 1719
Joined: March 9th, 2009, 7:46 am
Location: Mississauga, Ontario

Post by beeber »

The Story of a Modern Woman (version 2), by Ella Hepworth Dixon (1857 - 1932)

All audio files can be found on our catalog page: https://librivox.org/story-of-a-modern-woman-ver2--ella-dixon/
“The Story of a Modern Woman” (1894) is a work of feminist social realism. In its time it was one of the most famous and influential novels to grow out of and shape the “New Woman” movement of the 1890s. It won such attention for its author that Ella Hepworth Dixon was given the nickname “The New Woman.”

The story of the novel’s protagonist, Mary Erle, loosely follows the outline of Dixon’s own situation. As the well-educated daughter of a public intellectual, she enters the world of professional writing after his death, partly trading on his name. Victorian society had been distinctly patriarchal, and women were expected to find their places under the protection of men, traditionally defining themselves as wives and mothers. However, by the 1890s, an alarming “surplus” of unmarried women in Britain meant that many had statistically little chance of becoming anyone’s wife or mother, and must create for themselves other paths to meaningful existence. This new reality demanded a more complex understanding of life, with storylines more nuanced than the old “find-a-husband” fiction of earlier decades.

“The Story of a Modern Woman” was published first in serial form, then released in the UK and the USA in two editions with some differences in the selection and arrangement of material. This LibriVox recording is based on the American edition. (Summary by Bruce Pirie)
Source text (please read only from this text!): https://archive.org/details/storyamodernwom00dixogoog/page/n4/mode/2up

Target completion date: 2021-09-01

Prooflistening level: Standard
Prospective PLs, please see the Guide for Proof-listeners.

IMPORTANT - soloist, please note: in order to limit the number of languishing projects on our server, we ask that you post an update at least once a month in your project thread, even if you haven't recorded anything. If we don't hear from you for three months, your project may be opened up to a group project if a Book Coordinator is found. Files you have completed will be used in this project. If you haven't recorded anything yet, your project will be removed from the forum (contact any admin to see if it can be re-instated).

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Magic Window:



BC Admin
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Genres for the project: Literary Fiction; General Fiction/Published 1800 -1900

Keywords that describe the book: feminism, Bildungsroman, New Woman, social realism, 1890s, condition of women

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LibriVox recording settings: mono (1 channel), 44100 Hz sample rate, 128 kbps constant bit rate MP3. See the Tech Specs

Intro to recording:
Leave 0.5 to 1 second of silence at the beginning.

For the first section, say:
"Chapter # of The Story of a Modern Woman. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit librivox.org. Read by Bruce Pirie. The Story of a Modern Woman, by Ella Hepworth Dixon. Chapter Title."
For the second and subsequent sections, you may use the shortened intro if you wish:
"Chapter # of The Story of a Modern Woman, by Ella Hepworth Dixon. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain." Read by Bruce Pirie. Chapter Title."
End of recording:
Say:
"End of chapter #."
If you are recording the final section of the book, add:
"End of The Story of a Modern Woman, by Ella Hepworth Dixon."
Leave 5 seconds of silence at the end.

Filename: modernwoman_##_dixon_128kb.mp3 where ## is the section number. (e.g. modernwoman_01_dixon_128kb.mp3)

Upload to the LibriVox Uploader: https://librivox.org/login/uploader

MC to select: craigdav1

Copy and paste the file link generated by the uploader into the relevant Listen URL field in the Section Compiler, enter the duration in the Notes field, and post in this thread to let your PL and MC know that you have uploaded a file. You may also post the file link in the thread.
beeber
Posts: 1719
Joined: March 9th, 2009, 7:46 am
Location: Mississauga, Ontario

Post by beeber »

Please note that Sunrise2020 has agreed to PL all sections of this project.
craigdav1
LibriVox Admin Team
Posts: 30638
Joined: December 17th, 2011, 3:56 pm
Location: Chicago

Post by craigdav1 »

MW coming up.
beeber
Posts: 1719
Joined: March 9th, 2009, 7:46 am
Location: Mississauga, Ontario

Post by beeber »

craigdav1 wrote: March 5th, 2021, 3:33 pm MW coming up.
That was fast! Thanks, Dave.
craigdav1
LibriVox Admin Team
Posts: 30638
Joined: December 17th, 2011, 3:56 pm
Location: Chicago

Post by craigdav1 »

Let me know if any changes are needed. A little shorter than the last one we did together.
craigdav1
LibriVox Admin Team
Posts: 30638
Joined: December 17th, 2011, 3:56 pm
Location: Chicago

Post by craigdav1 »

Moving topic to Going Solo forum.
Sunrise2020
Posts: 995
Joined: August 28th, 2020, 5:41 am
Location: Cape Town, South Africa

Post by Sunrise2020 »

Looking forward to a new discovery :D
==========
Susanne
beeber
Posts: 1719
Joined: March 9th, 2009, 7:46 am
Location: Mississauga, Ontario

Post by beeber »

OK, let's get started. Chapter 1 is ready for PL.

Bruce
Sunrise2020
Posts: 995
Joined: August 28th, 2020, 5:41 am
Location: Cape Town, South Africa

Post by Sunrise2020 »

beeber wrote: March 6th, 2021, 4:21 pm OK, let's get started. Chapter 1 is ready for PL.

Bruce
PL of Chapter 1 is okay.
==========
Susanne
beeber
Posts: 1719
Joined: March 9th, 2009, 7:46 am
Location: Mississauga, Ontario

Post by beeber »

Chapter 2 is ready for PL.
Bruce
beeber
Posts: 1719
Joined: March 9th, 2009, 7:46 am
Location: Mississauga, Ontario

Post by beeber »

Chapter 3 is ready for PL.

As an adolescent, this author spent some time in Heidelberg. The people and scenes in this chapter are supposed to be quite autobiographical.

Bruce
Sunrise2020
Posts: 995
Joined: August 28th, 2020, 5:41 am
Location: Cape Town, South Africa

Post by Sunrise2020 »

beeber wrote: March 9th, 2021, 4:53 pm Chapter 3 is ready for PL.

As an adolescent, this author spent some time in Heidelberg. The people and scenes in this chapter are supposed to be quite autobiographical.

Bruce
PL for Chapter 3 is fine. I quite liked the description of Frau Professorin and her daughter.
==========
Susanne
beeber
Posts: 1719
Joined: March 9th, 2009, 7:46 am
Location: Mississauga, Ontario

Post by beeber »

Chapter 4 is ready for PL.
Bruce
beeber
Posts: 1719
Joined: March 9th, 2009, 7:46 am
Location: Mississauga, Ontario

Post by beeber »

Chapter 5 is ready for PL.

Here's a little research I've been digging up. Around the 17:15 mark in the recording, Alison says she wouldn't want anyone to think that she was "slumming" and she has contempt for "district visiting". I looked it up. "District visiting" was a highly organized activity, a kind of charitable work — and a pre-cursor to today's "social work" — organized through churches. They were like service clubs, and lots of people — women, mainly — headed off to poorer neighborhoods to talk with and support the poor. (And the term "slumming" first refers to this phenomenon, suddenly appearing in the language and blooming in the 1880s and 90s.)
The total number of visitors from all faiths working across the country was considerable. Precise statistics are not available for all denominations, but in its first official count in 1889, the Church of England announced that there were 47,112 district visitors, mostly female, working in 12,000 of the 15,000 parishes in England and Wales, a figure that rose to 74,009 in all the church’s parishes in 1910.
...
The range of services provided by the visiting societies depended on each one’s aims and resources. They commonly offered food, recipes, coals, boots, clothing, blankets, tracts, Bibles, a sympathetic ear, and advice on matters of domestic importance, such as sanitation and child-care.
...
The evidence suggests that by the mid-nineteenth century there were about three women volunteers for every man, a figure that was on the rise. One commentator, writing in 1887, remarked that 90 per cent of the visitors to the East End were women.
That's all taken from
https://oxford.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199539796.001.0001/acprof-9780199539796-chapter-3
Naturally, for some of the "visitors," some smug condescension and touristy voyeurism would set in, which is what Alison is trying to avoid, when she says she'd rather bring the East Enders out of their neighbourhood to live in a better setting, rather than just visiting them in the East End. Of course, her own attitude is not so simple and pure, either. We probably bristle when she says, "I believe I shall make a sensible person of Evelina."

In any case, how middle and upper class people treat lower class people will be an issue in this book.
Last edited by beeber on March 12th, 2021, 3:11 pm, edited 3 times in total.
beeber
Posts: 1719
Joined: March 9th, 2009, 7:46 am
Location: Mississauga, Ontario

Post by beeber »

Chapter 6 is ready for PL.

Two tiny details worth noting:

1. Mary exclaims at one point, "Do you really think that because I am a woman that I must sit by and fold my hands and wait?" The idea of a woman waiting will become an important recurring idea in this book. Waiting (for a husband) was, of course, a feature of life for so many women at that time. Watch for images of "waiting women"!

2. Vincent is planning to write a book on "the Woman Question." It was indeed a big issue at that time, and he (pompously?) assumes that he will have something worth saying on the subject. Just keep that in mind.

Bruce
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