Sexual Visuality from Literature to Film 1850–1950 PDF
Preview Sexual Visuality from Literature to Film 1850–1950
Sexual Visuality from Literature to Film, 1850–1950 Palgrave Studies in Nineteenth-Century Writing and Culture General Editor: Joseph Bristow, Professor of English, UCLA Editorial Advisory Board: Hilary Fraser, Birkbeck College, University of London; Josephine McDonagh, Linacre College, University of Oxford; Yopie Prins, University of Michigan; Lindsay Smith, University of Sussex; Margaret D. Stetz, University of Delaware; Jenny Bourne Taylor, University of Sussex Palgrave Studies in Nineteenth-Century Writing and Cultureis a new monograph series that aims to represent the most innovative research on literary works that were produced in the English-speaking world from the time of the Napoleonic Wars to the fin de siècle. Attentive to the historical continuities between ‘Romantic’ and ‘Victorian’, the series will feature studies that help scholarship to reassess the meaning of these terms during a century marked by diverse cultural, literary, and political movements. The main aim of the series is to look at the increasing influence of types of historicism on our understanding of literary forms and genres. It reflects the shift from critical theory to cultural history that has affected not only the period 1800–1900 but also every field within the discipline of English literature. All titles in the series seek to offer fresh critical perspectives and challenging readings of both canonical and non-canonical writings of this era. Titles include: Dennis Denisoff SEXUAL VISUALITY FROM LITERATURE TO FILM, 1850–1950 Laura E. Franey VICTORIAN TRAVEL WRITING AND IMPERIAL VIOLENCE Lawrence Frank VICTORIAN DETECTIVE FICTION AND THE NATURE OF EVIDENCE The Scientific Investigations of Poe, Dickens and Doyle Sexual Visuality from Literature to Film, 1850–1950 Dennis Denisoff © Dennis Denisoff, 2004 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2004 978-1-4039-2163-5 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4LP. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2004 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N. Y. 10010 Companies and representatives throughout the world PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave Macmillan division of St. Martin’s Press, LLC and of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. Macmillan® is a registered trademark in the United States, United Kingdom and other countries. Palgrave is a registered trademark in the European Union and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-51544-8 ISBN 978-0-230-28787-7 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9780230287877 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Denisoff, Dennis, 1961– Sexual visuality from literature to film, 1850–1950/ Dennis Denisoff. p. cm. – (Palgrave studies in nineteenth-century writing and culture) Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. English fiction–19th century–History and criticism. 2. Sex in literature. 3. Motion pictures–History. 4. Sex in motion pictures. I. Title. II. Series. PR878.S49D46 2004 791.43’6538–dc22 2003061327 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 The pages of this book are warmed for me by the love, affection, and support of Michael This page intentionally left blank Content List of Illustrations ix Acknowledgements x Introduction: Unsightly Desires 1 Strategic visuality and the Victorians 2 1 Lady in Green with Novel: Demonizing Artists and Female Authors 18 Victorian women and the economics of painting 20 Geraldine Jewsbury and the affections of the half dead 28 Mary Elizabeth Braddon’s secretions of artistry 35 Deformity, devotion, and Olivewomen 43 2 Framed and Hung: The Economic Beauty of Wilkie Collins’s Manly Artist 51 Patronage, self-employment, and masculine artistry 53 Idealizing artists 61 Monstrous masculinities 66 3 Posing a Threat: Wilde, the Marquess, and the Potrayal of Degeneracy 75 Degeneracy and portraiture 76 The heredity of the phantom son 85 Wilde and the positional being 90 4 The Forest Beyond the Frame: Women’s Desires in Vernon Lee and Virginia Woolf 98 Aestheticism and Vernon Lee’s undying empathy 99 The desiring narrative of Orlando’s portrait 106 5 Where the Boys Are: Daphne du Maurier and the Art of Unremarkability 121 Gothic visuality and the instability of gender 123 Visualizing masculinities in du Maurier’s world 127 Old boys 135 Danny boys 141 6 The Face in the Crowd: Film Noir’s Common Excess 154 Noir portraiture as meta-textual commentary 155 vii viii Contents Lauraand the death of the pictures 161 The violence of the domestic in Blue Gardenia 170 Scarlet Streetand the victim of his own desires 176 Epilogue 182 Notes 187 References 210 Index 219 List of Illustrations Fig. 1 William H. Snape, The Cottage Home(1891) 3 Fig. 2 George Du Maurier, Female School of Art(1874) 24 Fig. 3 Emily Mary Osborn, Nameless and Friendless(1857) 26 Fig. 4 Photograph of Oscar Wilde with Alfred Douglas (1892) 81 Fig. 5 Photograph of the Marquess of Queensberry with a Bicycle (1896) 83 Fig. 6 Orlando as a Boy(1928) 109 Fig. 7 Orlando on Her Return to England(1928) 116 Fig. 8 Orlando at the Present Time(1928) 118 The author and publishers have made every effort to trace the holders of copyright in the illustrations. If, inadvertently, any has been over- looked the publishers will be pleased to make the necessary arrange- ments at the first opportunity. ix
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