Putting Women in the Boat in The Idler (1892-1898) and TO-DAY (1893-1897)

Abstract

In this essay I show how the monthly illustrated journal, The Idler (1892-1898), under the editorship of Jerome K. Jerome, despite its insistent masculinist tone and viewpoint, becomes multidisciplinary in both content and voice through the introduction of women contributors and the use of illustrations of women on its covers, title pages, and its fiction and articles. Both the women's contributions, especially to the popular department ‘The Idler's Club', and the illustrations result in a journal that can be defined as a conversation between masculine and feminine perspectives on issues of culture during the 1890s.