Strathmore, or Wrought by his own Hand: A Life Romance is an important but secondary work in Ouida’s portfolio. It is important in that it controversially exemplifies Victorian popular literary tastes, and as the last work in which Ouida explicitly claimed a masculine voice, while also presaging the female serpent/saint binary in her romans à clef Puck (1870), Friendship (1878), and Moths (1880). All four novels addressed the question, “Why would men of noble character indulge in extra-marital sex?” Strathmore is considered a secondary work because it has attracted almost no critical attention in its own right, having been overshadowed by other works by Ouida that raise more complex questions about gender.
Unusually for a single Victorian woman, the half-French Marie Louisa “Ouida” Ramé (1839–1908) established a literary career and lifestyle at the heart of...
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Citation: Layton, Catherine. "Strathmore". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 24 May 2024 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=1837, accessed 09 June 2026.]
