This thesis examines the day to day practices that constituted Anne Listers (17911840) sexuality and sociability within the range of her writings, as well as her society. Annes writings were a detailed account, spanning her lifetime, of her own love and relationships with the fairer sex (Whitbread 1988, 145). Annes sociality, seen in her correspondence and plain handwritten journal entries, has been explored by Muriel Green in Miss Lister of Shibden Hall and Jill Liddington in Female Fortune and Natures Domain (Green 1992; Liddington 1998; 2003). As a gentlewoman of adequate means, Anne has garnered some attention from womens historians interested in her agency within an early nineteenth century social and historical context. Annes sexual identity has been extensively analysed over the past nearly twenty years by lesbian feminists, queer theorists, womens historians and historians of sexuality concerned with the history and development of modern Western female homosexuality and gender. The source for theorising Annes sexuality has been the edited selections of the crypted journal entries, published by Helena Whitbread in I Know My Own Heart and No Priest but Love (Whitbread 1988; 1992). However, many analyses deal either with the theorisation of Annes sexuality or her sociality; the theoretical difficulty with reconciling these categories has troubled the analysis of her complex subjectivity. Drawing upon the archival materials, I have used an interdisciplinary feminist approach to analyse the sexual and social processes of Annes everyday interactions in her writings. Taking the seven month period of the sojourn to Paris in 182425, I have focused upon Annes textual practices within her journal volume and letters during her residence in Paris, her social practices with the other guests at the guesthouse 24 Place Vendôme and her sexual practices with her lover, the widow Mrs. Maria Barlow. The journal volumes and correspondence are a valuable historical record of one gentlewomans engagement with early nineteenth century British culture.
Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/221821 |
Date | January 2006 |
Creators | Dannielle Orr |
Publisher | Murdoch University |
Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
Language | English |
Detected Language | English |
Rights | http://www.murdoch.edu.au/goto/CopyrightNotice, Copyright Dannielle Orr |
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