Dittmer persuasively argues for a Spinozian unification of the mind-body-nature connection within the monstrous woman figure by conducting textual analysis of early-to-mid-Victorian Gothic literature and ephemeral penny publications alongside readings of contemporaneous medical, legal, and theological texts. She engages an ecofeminist lens to demonstrate how these monstrous women, from madwomen to she-wolves, use nature and the natural elements to their advantage. Dittmer reveals their acts of reclamation that undo misogynistic notions of proper female domestication, morality, and sexuality. Given the current sociopolitical climate, this work feels more necessary and relevant than ever. -- Heather O. Petrocelli, author of In this thorough and thoughtful examination of the material and semiotic qualities of she-monsters, Nicole C. Dittmer puts little-known texts by writers such as Reynolds, MacDonald, and Rymer in conversation with the works of Mary Elizabeth Braddon and the Brontės in order to explore how women act as natures partners in reclaiming their agency and instincts from Victorian patriarchal oppression. Adopting a Spinozan, monistic, eco-Gothic framework in its analysis of the role and representation of psychosomatic agency, Dittmers Monstrous Women charts productive and provocative new territory for literary and cultural study of the Gothic. -- Harriet Hustis, The College of New Jersey
