Overview
What do #MeToo and Jane Austen have in common? More than you might think. Ever since the novel was invented, women have used it as a platform for sharing ideas about sexual consent. Dr Zoe McGee reveals how Jane Austen, Frances Burney and their now-overlooked contemporaries used their stories to try to change society's mind about rape culture and to reassure survivors they were not alone. Courting Disaster takes a timely deep-dive into a series of classic novels, comparing them with both historic court records and current events to show that our arguments about consent are not a new phenomenon. With the wit and wryness of a courtship novel, McGee reads between the lines to unveil a quiet feminist movement that still resonates today. Because every novel about marriage is also a novel about consent. In an era that's clamouring for a return to the values of the past, Courting Disaster asks what that would really mean, and whether anyone actually liked it back then anyway...
Full Product Details
Author: Zoë McGee
Publisher: Manchester University Press
Imprint: Manchester University Press
Dimensions:
Width: 13.80cm
, Height: 2.50cm
, Length: 21.60cm
Weight: 0.487kg
ISBN: 9781526188854
ISBN 10: 1526188856
Pages: 336
Publication Date: 04 November 2025
Audience:
College/higher education
,
College/higher education
,
Professional and scholarly
,
Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
,
Tertiary & Higher Education
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: Not yet available, will be POD
This item is yet to be released. You can pre-order this item and we will dispatch it to you upon it's release. This is a print on demand item which is still yet to be released.
Reviews
‘Zoë McGee combines righteous feminist anger and flawless textual analysis, demonstrating not only how to read centuries old literature but why it remains so important that we do.’ Helena Kelly, author of Jane Austen, the Secret Radical -- .
‘Zoë McGee combines righteous feminist anger and flawless analysis, demonstrating not only how to read centuries old literature but why it remains so important that we do.’ Helena Kelly, author of Jane Austen, the Secret Radical ‘By turns witty, hard-hitting and compassionate, McGee explores how the eighteenth-century courtship novel from Samuel Richardson to Jane Austen anticipates and thoroughly illuminates our modern debates about sexual violence, victimisation, trauma, credibility and consent. Courting Disaster reveals the key role that writing and storytelling play in the ongoing battle against sexual violence, and convincingly demonstrates that literature can change our lives and better our future’ . Robert Morrison, author of The Regency Revolution -- .
Author Information
Zoe McGee has a PhD from Queen Mary University of London and an MSt in eighteenth-century studies from the University of Oxford. She has spoken at conferences internationally and now performs at very nerdy stand-up comedy nights. Among other things, she has worked as a university teacher, a bookseller and a professional board-game-explainer. She owns too many books and is a competitive ballroom dancer in her spare time.
