The Neo-Victorian Feminist Afterlife of Anne Bronte's The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (1848) in Sam Baker's The Woman Who Ran (2016)

Anne Bronte's deliberate exposition in The Tenant of Wildfell Hall of gendered violence as the consequence of the structurally embedded sexism in the Victorian patriarchal socio-legal system is a daring example of feminist critique that was ahead of its time. This article examines the afterlife of Bronte's feminism in Sam Baker's The Woman Who Ran (2016), a neo-Victorian domestic noir thriller which re(dis)covers and repurposes Bronte's novel for contemporary women readers. Baker uncovers the ongoing crisis of domestic violence and sexism in professional spheres that persist despite the progress achieved by Western feminist movements to secure women's rights in the last century. We argue that The Woman Who Ran demonstrates just how generative Anne Bronte's writing remains for conceptualising feminist issues in the twenty-first century.

Automated summary

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall reveals the gendered violence in the Victorian patriarchal socio-legal system, making it a pioneering feminist critique. The novel's influence continues in The Woman Who Ran, a contemporary domestic noir thriller, which exposes the persisting crisis of domestic violence and sexism in professional spheres. This demonstrates the enduring relevance of Anne Bronte's writing for feminist issues in the twenty-first century.