The Story of a Modern Woman (Version 2): Free Audiobook and Listening Guide

The Story of a Modern Woman (Version 2), credited to Ella Hepworth Dixon, is available as a LibriVox volunteer audiobook. This guide identifies the recording, its source summary and its audio tracks.

About the work

The LibriVox catalogue summary, preserved with the recording, reads:

LibriVox recording of The Story of a Modern Woman (Version 2) by Ella Hepworth Dixon. Read in English by Bruce Pirie “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

Recording facts

• Recording title: The Story of a Modern Woman (Version 2)
• Author credits: Ella Hepworth Dixon
• Language: English
• Original MP3 tracks: 24
• Combined MP3 track duration: 7:16:15

Catalogue topics

• feminism
• bildungsroman
• new woman
• social realism
• 1890s
• condition of women

Track guide

1. 01 - An End and a Beginning — 19:59
2. 02 - A Child — 22:08
3. 03 - Wonderings — 16:37
4. 04 - A Young Girl — 17:07
5. 05 - Alison — 18:43
6. 06 - Mary's Lover — 18:32
7. 07 - The Central London School of Art — 14:59
8. 08 - A Kettledrum at Lady Jane's — 17:49
9. 09 - Mary Tries to Live Her Life — 15:44
10. 10 - New Hopes — 17:23
11. 11 - In Grub Street — 19:11
12. 12 - The Woman Waits — 19:16
13. 13 - The Man Returns — 19:24
14. 14 - The Apotheosis of Perry Jackson — 16:25
15. 15 - Mary Goes Out on a Wet Day — 15:09
16. 16 - A Comedy in Real Life — 19:16
17. 17 - Two Ultimatums — 16:06
18. 18 - Number Twenty-seven — 15:44
19. 19 - Dunlop Strange Makes a Mistake — 20:24
20. 20 - Alison Arranges a Match — 17:22
21. 21 - The Gate of Silence — 19:41
22. 22 - The World Wags On — 19:14
23. 23 - In Which Civilization Triumphs — 17:44
24. 24 - The Woman in the Glass — 22:16

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Source and rights

This is a record from LibriVox's official Internet Archive collection, with a public-domain licence recorded in its metadata. LibriVox's policy includes its catalogue summaries as well as its recordings. Its public-domain assessment follows United States law; copyright status can differ elsewhere. The summary and track facts are reproduced and reformatted from that record. Dates attached to the archive upload are not treated as original book publication dates.