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(3.96) | 11 | "Beautiful and Brilliant, Mis Ellen Grimsley considers it a scandal that she cannot attend Oxford simply because she's female, while a dashing dunderhead like her older brother, Gordon, is perfectly free to pursue the education of her dreams. That's why Miss Grimsley sees nothing wrong with donning her brother's robes to do his work for him--even though she knows society would reel in schock at the merest hint of such a notion. But an even greater scandal looms for this unconventional heroine when a charming Shakespearean scholar learns her secret. Now she's in for some lessons in an entirely different subject--love."--P[4] of cover.… (more) |
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Epigraph |
Ay me! For aught that ever I could read, Could ever hear by tale or history, The course of true love never did run smooth.
-- William Shakespeare A Midsummer Night's Dream | |
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In memory of Jean Dugat, my dear teacher, who taught me and challenged me. | |
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"It pains me to the quick to make this observation about my only son, but James, for a Gatewood, you are in queer stirrups, indeed," said Lady Chesney. (Prologue) Master Ralph Grimsley tugged at his collar, sighed, and looked up at his sister. | |
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▾References References to this work on external resources. Wikipedia in EnglishNone ▾Book descriptions "Beautiful and Brilliant, Mis Ellen Grimsley considers it a scandal that she cannot attend Oxford simply because she's female, while a dashing dunderhead like her older brother, Gordon, is perfectly free to pursue the education of her dreams. That's why Miss Grimsley sees nothing wrong with donning her brother's robes to do his work for him--even though she knows society would reel in schock at the merest hint of such a notion. But an even greater scandal looms for this unconventional heroine when a charming Shakespearean scholar learns her secret. Now she's in for some lessons in an entirely different subject--love."--P[4] of cover. ▾Library descriptions No library descriptions found. ▾LibraryThing members' description
Book description |
Beautiful and brilliant Miss Ellen Grimsley considered it a scandal and a shame that she as a female could not attend Oxford, while a dashing dunderhead like her older brother Gordon could. On the other hand, society would reel in a scandalized shock at the idea of Ellen donning Gordon's student robes to do his work. But an even greater scandal loomed when a handsome lord in humble scholar's disguise learned Ellen's secret and set out to give her a most advanced lesson in love. | |
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The first half of _Miss Grimsley's Oxford Career_ follows the sacred traditions of the feminist cross-dressing comedy (with antecedents ranging from _Twelfth Night_ to _Just One of the Guys_). There's the spunky heroine unfairly denied access to patriarchal privileges. (Modern outrage!) There's the dreamy hero who juggles separate relationships with the heroine and her masculine alter-ego. (Dramatic irony!) The heroine investigates gendered opportunities and suffers near-discoveries by disapproving society! There are hijinks!
Then the second half of _Miss Grimsley's Oxford Career_ arrives and ruthlessly punctures all those familiar genre expectations. The spunky heroine cannot fix the system and hooking up with the dreamy hero is going to involve lots of brutal, unfair compromises on her part. The bubbly feminist comedy tilts into anguish as Ellen agonizes over her limited choices and tries to pick the least of her potential evils.
There's an uneasy tension between the comedy and angst, which are never tightly integrated. Rather, the comedy seems slapped on top of the angst, and then the angst is slathered on top of the comedy. I'm not sure I love this approach, but there's something to be said for the subsequent strain. The jarring comedy sensitizes the reader to every nuance of that disquieting angst, and vice versa. But, like a shoe's vamp and sole, the novel's funny bits and its serious bits are distinct elements sewn together despite their material opposition. And sometimes the sole threatens to pull away from the shoe.
(But, on a base and low-brow note: the dreamy hero is incredibly dreamy.) ( )