A Critical Edition of Amy Levy's 'Sokratics in the Strand'

Hailed as a “girl genius” by Oscar Wilde, Amy Levy (1861–89) received critical acclaim at the young age for her forthright poetry, and was the first Jewish woman to attend Cambridge. Despite her early success, as a Jew and New Woman, Levy faced many barriers that prevented her from being accepted by the greater Victorian society. Levy explored the grim reality of being an outsider in Victorian England in her short story “Sokratics in the Strand” published in 1884. I devoted my Masters Essay to call the attention of modern audiences to one of her often-neglected works; and to explore in my critical introduction how Levy’s lifetime status as an outsider resulted in the creation of one of her most emotionally wrought pieces of literature.