Catherine Crowe, Charles Dickens, and Perceptions of Female Insanity

Abstract:Although Catherine Crowe receives almost no attention today, she was an immensely popular writer of plays, novels, short stories, compilations, children's and young adult literature, translations, and scientific articles during the mid-nineteenth century. In addition to being well known in artistic social circles, Crowe cultivated a cordial social and working relationship with Charles Dickens, who published three of her works and publicly praised her writing. Yet after the aging Crowe endured a one-time mental break, Dickens quickly began gossiping about her to several correspondents. His mocking, unsympathetic reaction to Crowe's temporary illness contrasts considerations Dickens affords various mental illness sufferers in his fiction and nonfiction works. However, this paper argues that Dickens' response aligns with evidence that Dickens unsuccessfully attempted to have his wife Catherine declared insane, consequently providing further insight into Dickens's perceptions of female mental illness while bringing attention to the formerly prevalent author Catherine Crowe.