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Date: Sun, 27 Oct 2002 00:00:03 -0500
From: Automatic digest processor <[log in to unmask]>
Reply-To: VICTORIA 19th-Century British Culture & Society
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Subject: VICTORIA Digest - 25 Oct 2002 to 26 Oct 2002 (#2002-295)
To: Recipients of VICTORIA digests <[log in to unmask]>
There are 14 messages totalling 386 lines in this issue.
Topics of the day:
1. John Bull Periodical (2)
2. Homophobic terms (4)
3. Dating 'Walter'
4. Homophobic Terms (2)
5. Elizabeth Longford, 1906-2002
6. new etext - Some Habits and Customs of the Working Classes
7. Belated Introduction and thanks
8. Pre-Raphaelites and Darwinism
9. the Rossettis and 'higgledy piggledy' tea
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Date: Fri, 25 Oct 2002 22:05:33 -0700
From: Sheldon Goldfarb <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: John Bull Periodical
I looked through John Bull for 1839-40, focusing on its literary commentary,
but I did note its Conservative politics:
On March 24, 1839, it urged the Conservatives to act to save the
constitution and the country from the Whigs and Radicals. It saw the Whig
Prime Minister, Lord Melbourne, as a tool of the Irish nationalist, Daniel
O'Connell.
It panned Bulwer's play "Richelieu," perhaps for political reasons, since
Bulwer was identified with the Radicals. John Bull commented that "the
herd" were going to "gape" at Richelieu (March 10, 1839).
It covered general news like the invention of the daguerreotype,
the Corn Laws, the new Poor Law, the Police Bill, the introduction of penny
postage, Chartist rumblings, the issue of Canadian prisoners, the Catholic
laws, and the education grant.
On March 10, 1839, it ran an article called "Alleged Death from the Use of
Joyce's Stove" about a defective type of stove then in use.
On the literary side, it regularly reviewed the contents of the periodicals
(Blackwood's, Bentley's, etc.). It also ran ads for them, announcing their
contents ahead of time.
The review of "Richelieu" appeared in a regular section called "Theatres."
On April 7, 1839, it ran a defence of the Oxford Tracts.
It regularly ran ads for various medicines, including one for "Bilious and
Liver Complaints" and others for Morison's Pills and Rowland's Kalydor
lotion.
It published notices of works by Mrs. Trollope, G.P.R. James, Lady Bulwer,
Captain Marryat, and Mrs. Gore, and ran an ad for Fenimore Cooper's "History
of the Navy of the United States."
It ran ads for the very popular "Jack Sheppard" (Ainsworth's novel), but
also published a comment saying that the author pleaded guilty to never
having read it and said he never meant to.
In January 1840, it praised Thackeray's Yellowplush Correspondence, which
was running in Fraser's Magazine.
Sheldon Goldfarb
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------------------------------
Date: Sat, 26 Oct 2002 10:50:30 +0100
From: Paul Barlow <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: Homophobic terms
So far as I'm aware "gay" does not suggest homosexual at all in the
Victorian period, nor does it specifically mean 'female prostitution',
though it can be a euphemism for such. It's general meaning of 'carefree' is
often used with a suggestion of carefree behaviour in a sexual conext. It
can be used to mean 'unattached and uninhbited'. 'A gay lifestyle' implies
one that is fun-filled, including having 'fun' sexual relationships, with no
long standing loyalties or emotions involved. It often applies to men, but
usually with the suggestion that such men are lotharios rather than
homosexual. That meaning persists into the twentieth century as in films
such as 'The Gay Divorce' (1934) and 'The Gay Falcon' (1941). The former is
about a couple whose marriage is treated lightly, the latter about a
womanising detective. By this date the connotation of unattached male could
be appropriated as a way to create a positive image of a male homosexual
lifestyle, but the dominant usage is still heterosexual.
"Gay" was appropriated pereciely because it was not seen as 'homophobic',
but had a wider currency that was increasingly positive in character by the
mid-twentieth century. This does not preclude isolated intances of its use
as a euphemiism for 'homosexual' in the nineteenth century, but the usage
would not be likely to be commonly recognised as such.
Paul Barlow
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/02 21:53
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Date: Wed, 23 Oct 2002 18:57:40 +0100
From: Julie Peakman <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: Dating 'Walter'
Jad Adams writes:
I am trying to date a passage from My Secret Life and I wonder if anyone has
done any recent work on this area of it. I am aware of Steven Marcus' The
Other Victorians and Gordon Grimley's introduction to the Panther edition of
1972 but neither of these are exhaustive. I am trying to date the liaison
with 'Kitty' in Chapter 3 Vol III.
Before anyone else raises the point I ought to remark: notwithstanding that
some question the factual authenticity of Walter, the dating of fictional
events is still possible e.g. much of the action of Middlemarch 'happens'
around 1832.
Jad Adams
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Date: Sat, 26 Oct 2002 10:56:32 -0500
From: "Doris H. Meriwether" <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Homophobic Terms
According to the OED, second edition, 1989, both "queer" and "gay" are
terms of American origin referring to homosexuals and do not appear with
that meaning until 1921 for "queer" and 1935 for "gay." This source
gives as the first recorded British use of "queer" as 1935 in The
Listener.
Doris Meriwether
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Date: Sat, 26 Oct 2002 17:12:20 +0100
From: Valerie Gorman <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: Homophobic Terms
Doris Meriwether wrote: "According to the OED, second edition, 1989"
Please remember that this is certainly not the last word on the subject; the
OED only records what it has evidence for. The words may be much older than
1921 or 1935 or may have been in use in England, but the dictionary editors
don't have any examples earlier than the ones in the dictionary. Readers
and researchers like yourselves can alter these dates by providing examples
from ANY printed source.
Valerie Gorman
Assistant Editor (bibliography)
OED/OUP
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------------------------------
Date: Sat, 26 Oct 2002 13:40:49 -0500
From: Patrick Leary <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Elizabeth Longford, 1906-2002
Elizabeth Longford, whose landmark biographies of Queen Victorian and
the Duke of Wellington combine meticulous scholarship with graceful and
expressive prose, has died this week at age 96. There were obituaries in
several UK papers on Thursday. The one in the Guardian is at
http://www.guardian.co.uk/obituaries/story/0,3604,817804,00.html
The Times notice is particularly informative, and can be called up by
typing "Longford" into the "search this site" window at
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/
-- Patrick
__________
Patrick Leary
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------------------------------
Date: Sat, 26 Oct 2002 20:27:01 +0100
From: Lee Jackson <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: new etext - Some Habits and Customs of the Working Classes
A new etext for anyone interested in the life of the "intellgent artisan"
... Thomas Wright's "Some Habits and Customs of the Working Classes" from 1867:
http://www.victorianlondon.org/publications/habits.htm
regards,
Lee
www.victorianlondon.org
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 26 Oct 2002 15:34:33 -0500
From: "Doris H. Meriwether" <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: Homophobic terms
Valerie Gorman is certainly correct that the OED is only as definitive
as its citations. The earlier question from Geoffrey Clarke regarding
the Marquess of Queensbury's use of "Snob Queers" presumably carries the
earlier meaning of queers as eccentrics. Clarke is also misled if he
assumes that the original meaning of "gay" is a female prostitute. Long
before the word was used in that sense, it meant carefree, light-
hearted, etc.
Doris Meriwether
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 26 Oct 2002 21:12:30 +0100
From: Esma <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Belated Introduction and thanks
Hello all,
I have been sitting on the VICTORIA list for a few months now, and have been
perhaps a little anonymous, so I am taking the opportunity to introduce
myself and to thank all those who have given me assistance so far with my
sometimes gushy and breathless questions.
Many thanks to Michele Marietta for my Wilde trials question, to D C Rose
for pointing me to the superb OSCHOLARS, and to George Simmers and Petra
Dierkes-Thrun in helping me with my search for 'The Green Carnation'.
I joined VICTORIA to help me with some personal research for a writing
project I have undertaken, and have found it to be both invaluable and
entertaining in the broad scope of subjects discussed. I hope that in return
I have been helpful in the replies I have been able to give to others so
far.
My academic background is design/design and art history, but I currently
work for the new British Empire and Commonwealth Museum, the first UK museum
to deal directly with that aspect of British history. For those interested,
please see our site at www.empiremuseum.co.uk.
As we are situated at Temple Meads, Bristol, it means I have the great
honour of working every day in the gothic splendour of Brunel's original
building, the first purpous built railway station in the world ( Built
1838-1840 ).
I hope this goes some way towards an introduction of myself, and as an
acknowledgement of those who have assisted me in my enquiries so far.
Yours,
Esma Pearcey
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------------------------------
Date: Sat, 26 Oct 2002 15:30:45 -0500
From: Annie Smidt <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: Pre-Raphaelites and Darwinism
Gillian, and others interested in this subject --
In the "Journal of Pre-Raphaelite Studies", there's an article you might want to
check
out: "Pre-Rapaelite and Darwinism: Some Thoughts on Passion for Detail and
Longing for Form" by Elton Smith in Volume VI, Number 1, November 1985.
-annie
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------------------------------
Date: Sat, 26 Oct 2002 16:03:12 -0500
From: Annie Smidt <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: the Rossettis and 'higgledy piggledy' tea
I know Mr. Blunt was a scoundrel, but Jane's affair with him was much later than
this
reference. She hadn't even begun her first "affair", with Rossetti, yet. And,
far be it for
me to defend a "womanizer", but the odd thing is, her relationship with Blunt
was
rather non-higgledy-piggledy. If you read her letters to him (his to her didn't
survive,
as far as i know), it seems it was a very supportive, deep friendship (with a
touch of
sex at the beginning) and though he was dallying with other women, he more or
less
gave her what she wanted... an outlet from her unromantic marriage, someone to
talk to about her kids and her problems and her garden, and a chance to live
vicariously through an adventurer to exotic lands. (after William died, Jane and
May
actually made it out to Egypt and stayed with Blunt, but it sounds like they
were
somewhat bored!).
But I think what was most non-higgledy-piggledy about Jane Morris's two affairs
was
William's incredibly modern, humanistic reaction toward them -- valuing his
wife's
happiness over traditional notions of marital fidelity. Not an ideal situation,
to be
sure, but in a lot of ways I admire his stoicism, open-mindedness and lack of
concern
for Victorian convention. Though it must have been heart-breaking for him, he
let
Jane have the sort of discreet affairs that a Victorian man was, unofficially,
often able
to conduct... without turning their marriage or their social circle upside-down.
I think
ACTING on his theoretical beliefs about equality and ideal societies (and to
some
extent, is it not arthurian, this soft of affair?) gives him a lot of credence.
happily defending the love-lives of the dead,
annie
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------------------------------
Date: Sun, 27 Oct 2002 09:24:44 +1100
From: Ellen Jordan <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: Homophobic terms
My memory is that "gay" only began to mean homosexual to a wider public
in the 1970s with "Gay Liberation". This suddenly added a whole new
dimension to the titles of children's readers of the 1950s and 1960s,
for example the Gay Way series in Britain, and Gay Days here in NSW.
The main well-known terms before that, and unlike gay they were
homophobic, were queer, pansy and fairy. I'm not sure of pre-WW2 usages
of the first, but Orwell routinely used the second, and I've heard the
third in the recording of a comic song of the 1920s sung by Ronald
Frankau.
Two other terms I've come across: In J.B. Priestley's Lost Empires,
written in the 1960s but set in the preWW1 period he has some-one refer
to a pair of music hall performers as "a couple of puffs". Could this be
an early version of poofter, the standard Australian homophobic term?
And in Grass in Piccadilly (1947) Noel Streatfeild has a middle-aged
woman who goes about with two young homosexual men referred to as a
meadow lady.
Ellen Jordan
University of Newcastle
Australia
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------------------------------
Date: Sat, 26 Oct 2002 18:10:20 -0500
From: Annie Smidt <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: Homophobic terms
I concur that it was common 19th parlance to refer to Victorian female
prostitutes
with euphemisms including the word "gay". I've seen this in so many primary and
secondary sources that I figured it was commonly accepted/known. However, the
connection between this usage and the modern one is very interesting. From what
i've read, there isn't actually a direct lineage. I did find a very informative
entry on the
web that explains several etymological theories (nicely summarizing what i've
read
elsewhere) and cites early uses from literature and pop culture. Take a gander
at:
http://www.wordorigins.org/wordorg.htm
annie
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------------------------------
Date: Sat, 26 Oct 2002 23:09:12 -0400
From: April Nixon <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: John Bull Periodical
Alison Adburgham's _Silver Fork Society_ (London: Constable, 1983)
presents information on John Bull's general nature and political
orientation and on literary responses to the periodical.
April Nixon Kendra
University of Georgia
On Fri, 25 Oct
2002, Sanders, Michael wrote:
> Dear listmembers,
>
> Is there anyone out there who knows anything about a periodical called 'John
> Bull' which was publishing in the UK in the late 1830s/early 1840s? I'm
> particularly interested in the general nature of this magazine (news, satire
or
> general?), its political orientation (tory, whig/liberal, middle-class
radical
> ?) and its intended readership.
>
> Many thanks
>
> Mike Sanders
> Lancaster University, UK,
> [log in to unmask]
>
----------------------------------------------
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
----------------------------------------------
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End of VICTORIA Digest - 25 Oct 2002 to 26 Oct 2002 (#2002-295)
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