Crossing the Boundaries Between Sensation and New Woman Literature
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Sensationalising the New Woman: Crossing the Boundaries between Sensation and New Woman Literature Katherine Mansfield December 2018 This dissertation is submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of PhD in English Literature at Cardiff University. 2 ‘[T]he hidden depths, of which it reveals a glimpse, are not fit subjects for a romance, nor ought they to be opened up to the light of day for purposes of mere amusement. But truth must always have a certain power, in whatever shape it may appear’. Felicia Skene, Hidden Depths (1866) ‘We have plenty of opportunities of getting at the masculine point of view, but it is only in comparatively recent times, that we have had female writers who possessed ideas of their own, and dared to express them. […] It mustn’t be forgotten that the work of those who thought for themselves will be invaluable documents for the social historian of the future’. George Paston, A Writer of Books (1898) ‘To a small girl-child who may live to grasp somewhat of that which for us is yet sight, not touch’. Olive Schreiner, Dreams (1900) 3 Abstract My thesis seeks to conceptualise and explore the relationship between Sensation and New Woman fiction, two popular genres of the mid- to late-Victorian era, to investigate the extent to which Sensation literature is a forerunner to the early development of the New Woman novel; and consequently how the two genres blur, or cross, temporal and conceptual boundaries. Both genres challenged prevailing attitudes to gender, sexuality, morality and domesticity: Sensation fiction more implicitly by making the erstwhile Angel of the House the agent of domestic and marital upheaval and even crime, New Woman fiction explicitly by making the rebel of the house the rebel in society; here, she was more often positioned within the larger socio-economic setting for which her rebellion could have dramatic consequences. While previous comparisons of the two genres (although they are limited in number) have focused solely on the crossovers between the female protagonists, I seek to extend existing scholarship by investigating the relationship between Sensation and New Woman fiction through the two genres’ response to contemporary legal and social debates, the characters, both female and male, Gothic literature, a mode both genres revisited, and their subversive endings. I argue that it is in challenging Victorian ideologies that Sensation and New Woman literature obscure and, to a certain extent, redefine genre paradigms. 4 Contents List of Illustrations………………………………………………………………….6 Acknowledgements………………………………………………………………….7 List of Abbreviations………………………………………………………………..8 Introduction New Sensations: Placing Sensation and New Woman Literature………………10 ‘Monstrosity of fiction’: Defining Sensation and New Woman Literature…………16 What is Sensation Fiction?………………………………………………….17 What is New Woman Fiction?……………………………………………...28 Conceptual Framework and the Field: Recent Critical Engagement in Sensation-New Woman Comparisons……………………………………………………………….40 Sensation Fiction and its Influences………………………………………………...46 Crossing the Boundaries: Exposing Inter-genre Relationships……………………..56 Chapter Outlines…………………………………………………………………….72 Chapter One Historical Background: Political and Social Context……………………………74 Education……………………………………………………………………………80 Employment………………………………………………………………………...87 Matrimonial Causes Act 1857………………………………………………………91 Married Women’s Property Acts……………………………………………………99 Contagious Diseases Acts………………………………………………………….108 Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885……………………………………………...112 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………115 Chapter Two Deceptive Femininities: Manipulating Gender and Genre…………………….117 The ‘Ambiguous Sex’: Cross-dressing Heroines in Sensation and New Woman Fiction……………………………………………………………………………...131 The Female Writer: Art and Autonomy in Florence Wilford’s Nigel Bartram’s Ideal (1868)……………………………………………………………………………...150 5 Sensationalising Marital Violence in Mona Caird’s The Wing of Azrael (1889)….172 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………191 Chapter Three A Perfect Match? The Emergence of the New Man……………………………193 ‘But here’s the old confusion. I am a man; you are a woman’: The Threat to Victorian Masculinity……………………………………………………………...203 Queer Sensations: The Homoerotic Hero and the Mask of Hyper-Masculinity…..214 The Anti-Hero: A Sensational New Man in Sarah Grand’s The Heavenly Twins (1893)……………………………………………………………………………...235 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………250 Chapter Four Spectral Rebellions: Gothic Adaptations in Sensation and New Woman Literature…………………………………………………………………………253 Conceptualising Sensation and New Woman Gothic……………………………...263 Bodily Hauntings: Spectres of Contamination in New Woman Gothic…………...280 Haunted Houses: The Ghost of Women’s Hidden Inheritance in Charlotte Riddell’s Weird Stories (1882)……………………………………………………………….299 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………311 Conclusion The Problem with Endings………………………………………………………314 Rewriting the Sensation Heroine’s Fate…………………………………………...321 Happily Ever After: Looking to a Brighter Future………………………………...330 Concluding Thoughts……………………………………………………………...338 Appendix………………………………………………………………………….343 Florence Wilford, ‘Albert Durer’s Little Daughter’ (1865)……………………….343 Florence Wilford, ‘The Men and Women of Books’ (1867)………………………346 Bibliography………………………………………………………………………349 6 List of Illustrations 1.1 ‘What It Will Soon Come To’ by unknown artist, Punch, or the London Charivari (24th February 1894)……………………………………………113 1.2 ‘The New Woman’ by George Du Maurier, Punch, or the London Charivari (15th June 1895)……………………………………………………………114 2.1 ‘The Authoress of “The Girl of the Period”’ by Matt Morgan, Mrs Lynn Linton, Her Life, Letters, and Opinions (London: Methuen and Co., 1901)……………………………………………………………………….121 2.2 ‘Dress and Fashion: French Hairdressing’, Queen (28th March 1885)…..122 2.3 ‘Grey Hair Restored to its Natural Colour’, Alexandra Magazine (September 1865)……………………………………………………………………….123 3.1 ‘False Mustaches and Goatees’, The Great Mail-Order Bargain House (New York: Robert H. Ingersoll and Bro, 1898)…………………………………204 3.2 ‘Latreille’s Excelsior Lotion’, Practical Journalism, How to Enter Thereon and Succeed (London: L. Upcott Gill, 1885)……………………………...205 3.3 ‘Professor Modevi’s Beard Generator’, Illustrated Police News (4th April 1885)…………………………………………………………………….....206 3.4 ‘Man or Woman?—A Toss Up’ by Linley Sambourne, Punch, or the London Charivari (10th April 1880)………………………………………………..207 3.5 ‘We’ve Not Come to that Yet’ by unknown artist, Punch, or the London Charivari (6th October 1894)………………………………………………208 3.6 ‘Miss Mill Joins the Ladies’ by unknown artist, Judy; or the London Serio- Comic Journal (25th November 1868)……………………………………..209 7 Acknowledgements My gratitude first and foremost must go to my exemplary supervisor, Professor Ann Heilmann for her tireless support, guidance, dedication and endless enthusiasm, as well as the many opportunities she has given me to advance my academic profile. I hope she realises what a wonderful supervisor she is. I would like to thank the academic and administrative staff in the ENCAP department at Cardiff University for their assistance and encouragement. Particular thanks must go to Professor Martin Willis for his feedback regarding several chapters of this thesis. I am also indebted to Dr Martin Robb for his willingness to help when I hit a dead end in my Ancestry research and James Fishwick, librarian at Lady Margaret Hall, University of Oxford, for his kind assistance when researching the Barnacle magazine and for permission to reprint Florence Wilford’s poem ‘Albert Durer’s Little Daughter’ and essay ‘The Men and Women of Books’ in the Appendix. I am grateful to many friends at Cardiff University, but in particular Rob Lloyd and Mikey Goodman whose ability to make me laugh has been invaluable. I also thank Anne Mahler who remained a constant champion throughout the three years. I am glad that I am now able to repay the favour. Special thanks goes to Bhav Solanki for his unlimited support and encouragement, as well as for making me realise that there is life outside the PhD. Last, but by no means least, thanks must go to my parents, Philip and Juliet, and sister, Hannah. Without their backing this PhD would simply not have been possible. 8 List of Abbreviations BB Sarah Grand, The Beth Book, ed. by Jenny Bourne Taylor (Brighton: Victorian Secrets, 2013) D Bram Stoker, Dracula, ed. by John Paul Riquelme (New York: Bedford/St Martin’s, 2002) DW Mary Elizabeth Braddon, The Doctor’s Wife, ed. by Lyn Pykett (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008) GL George Alfred Lawrence, Guy Livingstone; or, ‘Thorough’ (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1857) HFN Florence Marryat, Her Father’s Name, ed. by Greta Depledge (Brighton: Victorian Secrets, 2009) HT Sarah Grand, The Heavenly Twins (Hong Kong: Forgotten Books, 2012) LAS Mary Elizabeth Braddon, Lady Audley’s Secret, ed. by Lyn Pykett (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012) MW George Moore, A Mummer’s Wife, ed. by Anthony Patterson (Brighton: Victorian Secrets, 2011) NBI Florence Wilford, Nigel Bartram’s Ideal (London: Frederick Warne and Co., 1869) NWTW Rhoda Broughton, Not Wisely, But Too Well, ed. by Tamar Heller (Brighton: Victorian Secrets, 2013) ‘OD’ Charlotte Riddell, ‘The Open Door’, in Weird Stories, ed. by Emma Liggins (Brighton: Victorian Secrets, 2009), pp. 27-58 ‘OHVW’ Charlotte Riddell, ‘The Old House in Vauxhall Walk’, in Weird Stories, ed. by Emma Liggins (Brighton: Victorian Secrets,