Název: "There is sex in mind" : scientific determinism and the woman question in Lady Audley's Secret
Zdrojový dokument: Brno studies in English. 2012, roč. 38, č. 1, s. [87]-102
Rozsah
[87]-102
-
ISSN0524-6881 (print)1805-0867 (online)
Trvalý odkaz (DOI): https://doi.org/10.5817/BSE2012-1-6
Trvalý odkaz (handle): https://hdl.handle.net/11222.digilib/124306
Type: Článek
Jazyk
anglicky
Licence: Neurčená licence
Abstrakt(y)
My contention in this paper is that in Lady Audley's Secret Elizabeth Braddon is critical of the nineteenth-century theories of cerebral and biological determinism in relation to the question of female madness. I argue in the first part that Braddon pinpoints phrenology – the study of the faculties of the mind from the conformation of the skull – as one of the institutionalized sciences that provided a materialistic underpinning and a further incentive to masculine hegemony. After I outline the basic tenets of the theory I shall argue that as a subject of phrenological analysis, the madwoman is treated in ways that reproduce Victorian gender-normative stereotypes. In the second part I shall demonstrate that marriage is denounced as an institution that bolsters the hegemonic machine.
Klíčová slova
Reference
[1] Braddon Elizabeth (1998) Lady Audley's Secret. Ed. David Skilton. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[2] Chesler, Phyllis (2005) Women and Madness. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
[3] Combe, George (1819) Essays on Phrenology; or an Inquiry into the Principles and Ability of the System of Drs Gall and Spurzheim; and into the Objections Made Against It. Edinburgh.
[4] Combe, George (nd) 1819-1920 Notebooks. NLS7406, fo. 72–73.
[5] Combe, George (1974) The Constitution of Man in Relation to External Objects. Delmar: Scholars' Facsimiles & Reprints.
[6] Cooter, Roger (1976) 'Phrenology and British Alienists, c. 1825-1845'. Medical History 20, 1–21.
[7] Cooter, Roger (1984) The Cultural Meaning of Popular Science: Phrenology and the Organization of Consent in Nineteenth-Century Britain. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[8] Daston, Lorraine (1996) 'The Naturalized Female Intellect'. In: Grauman, Carl F. and Kenneth J. Gergen (eds.) Historical Dimensions of Psychological Discourse. New York: Cambridge University Press, 165–192.
[9] De Giustino, David (1975) Conquest of Mind: Phrenology and Victorian Social Thought. London: Totowa.
[10] Leahey, Thomas Hardy and Grace Evans Leahey (1983) Psychology's Occult Doubles: Psychology and the Problem of Pseudoscience. Chicago: Nelson-Hall.
[11] Loesberg, Jonathan (1986) 'The Ideology of Narrative Form in the Sensation Fiction'. Representations 13, 115–138. | DOI 10.1525/rep.1986.13.1.99p01136
[12] Lukasik, Christopher J (2011) Discerning Characters: The Culture of Appearance in Early America. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
[13] Maudsley, Henry (1873) Body and Mind: An Inquiry into Their Connection and Mutual Influence, Especially in Reference to Mental Disorders. London: Macmillan.
[14] Maudsley, Henry (1867) The Physiology and Pathology of the Mind. New York: Appleton & Company.
[15] Punter, David (1998) Gothic Pathologies: the Text, the Body, and the Law. New York: St. Martin's Press.
[16] Richards, Robert John (1987) Darwin and the Emergence of Evolutionary Theories of Mind and Behavior. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
[17] Schroeder, Natalie and Ronald A. Schroeder (2006) From Sensation to Society: Representations of Marriage in the Fiction of Mary Elizabeth Braddon 1862-1866. Rosemont Publishing.
[18] Showalter, Elaine (1987) The Female Malady: Women, Madness, and English Culture, 1830-1980. New York: Virago.
[19] Smart Alexander (1834) 'On the Application of phrenology in the formation of marriages.' The American Phrenological Journal and Miscellany. Vol II. Philadelphia: Haswell, Barrington & Co.
[20] Spurzheim, Johann C (1825) A View of the Philosophical Principles of Phrenology. London: Knight.
[21] Spurzheim, Johann C (1829) Outlines of Phrenology; Being also a Manual of Reference for the Marked Busts. London: Treuttel, Wurtz, and Richter.
[22] Voskuil, Lynn M (2001) 'Acts of Madness: Lady Audley and the Meaning of Victorian Femininity'. Feminist Studies 27, 611–639. | DOI 10.2307/3178808
[2] Chesler, Phyllis (2005) Women and Madness. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
[3] Combe, George (1819) Essays on Phrenology; or an Inquiry into the Principles and Ability of the System of Drs Gall and Spurzheim; and into the Objections Made Against It. Edinburgh.
[4] Combe, George (nd) 1819-1920 Notebooks. NLS7406, fo. 72–73.
[5] Combe, George (1974) The Constitution of Man in Relation to External Objects. Delmar: Scholars' Facsimiles & Reprints.
[6] Cooter, Roger (1976) 'Phrenology and British Alienists, c. 1825-1845'. Medical History 20, 1–21.
[7] Cooter, Roger (1984) The Cultural Meaning of Popular Science: Phrenology and the Organization of Consent in Nineteenth-Century Britain. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[8] Daston, Lorraine (1996) 'The Naturalized Female Intellect'. In: Grauman, Carl F. and Kenneth J. Gergen (eds.) Historical Dimensions of Psychological Discourse. New York: Cambridge University Press, 165–192.
[9] De Giustino, David (1975) Conquest of Mind: Phrenology and Victorian Social Thought. London: Totowa.
[10] Leahey, Thomas Hardy and Grace Evans Leahey (1983) Psychology's Occult Doubles: Psychology and the Problem of Pseudoscience. Chicago: Nelson-Hall.
[11] Loesberg, Jonathan (1986) 'The Ideology of Narrative Form in the Sensation Fiction'. Representations 13, 115–138. | DOI 10.1525/rep.1986.13.1.99p01136
[12] Lukasik, Christopher J (2011) Discerning Characters: The Culture of Appearance in Early America. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
[13] Maudsley, Henry (1873) Body and Mind: An Inquiry into Their Connection and Mutual Influence, Especially in Reference to Mental Disorders. London: Macmillan.
[14] Maudsley, Henry (1867) The Physiology and Pathology of the Mind. New York: Appleton & Company.
[15] Punter, David (1998) Gothic Pathologies: the Text, the Body, and the Law. New York: St. Martin's Press.
[16] Richards, Robert John (1987) Darwin and the Emergence of Evolutionary Theories of Mind and Behavior. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
[17] Schroeder, Natalie and Ronald A. Schroeder (2006) From Sensation to Society: Representations of Marriage in the Fiction of Mary Elizabeth Braddon 1862-1866. Rosemont Publishing.
[18] Showalter, Elaine (1987) The Female Malady: Women, Madness, and English Culture, 1830-1980. New York: Virago.
[19] Smart Alexander (1834) 'On the Application of phrenology in the formation of marriages.' The American Phrenological Journal and Miscellany. Vol II. Philadelphia: Haswell, Barrington & Co.
[20] Spurzheim, Johann C (1825) A View of the Philosophical Principles of Phrenology. London: Knight.
[21] Spurzheim, Johann C (1829) Outlines of Phrenology; Being also a Manual of Reference for the Marked Busts. London: Treuttel, Wurtz, and Richter.
[22] Voskuil, Lynn M (2001) 'Acts of Madness: Lady Audley and the Meaning of Victorian Femininity'. Feminist Studies 27, 611–639. | DOI 10.2307/3178808