thanks so much for this piece! I really enjoyed reading it, and, even tho I’ve seen a lot of movies like Mädchen in Uniform (and Loving Annabelle), have sought similar stories, and am writing on similar themes; I hadn’t heard of Dorothy Strachey before and had fun with that rabbit hole
so many literary connections and affairs! might need to get a copy of Olivia soon…
This is a really interesting article and the books look really interesting! The boarding school trope/experience is really interesting to look into.
Boarding schools have always been a place of homosociality and extreme isolation where girls are sequestered away during some really formative years. When they have no contact with the outside world it makes sense that they gravitate towards figures like teachers and other students. I read Learned by Heart by Emma Donoghue last year and it was an interesting look at the queerness of a girl’s boarding school.
I know it’s well recorded among boy’s schools but it’s interesting to see that it’s well recorded in novels about girls boarding schools too! I’ll have to check out some of those books!
I am a little obsessed with Anne Lister who the book is about and Eliza Raine is a tragic figure. I think Donoghue does really well in capturing that adolescent obsession with your best friend that I know many of us queer folk have had
I think you'll like both Olivia and Thérèse et Isabelle because they both capture that adolescent obsession as well :)
Eliza Raine was half-Indian, and supposedly the model for Mrs. Rochester in Jane Eyre. I loved Jane Eyre as a kid, so the casual racist angle makes me a little sad (though, of course, it was normal for that era).
I really will have to check those books out. I’ve never heard of the Eliza Raine/Bertha Rochester link but I know what I’ll be investigating tonight because the connection makes sense even if the implications are awful
This was really an interesting read! Also, similar aituations with our grandparents, except the age gap between mine was 7. Thank you for introducing me to so many books!
The thing is, Queer people have been marginalized for a *long* time, so the bits of representation we get from the 20th century and earlier are often quite 'flawed'. Age gaps, infidelity, and so on.
Funnily enough, my grandparents also had a big age gap (about 10 years). I think it depends a lot on the situation. For example, I'm 21 and I would never date a 16yo (5-year gap) because there's a huge gap in terms of maturity, but dating a 26yo (same gap) doesn't feel so weird.
thanks so much for this piece! I really enjoyed reading it, and, even tho I’ve seen a lot of movies like Mädchen in Uniform (and Loving Annabelle), have sought similar stories, and am writing on similar themes; I hadn’t heard of Dorothy Strachey before and had fun with that rabbit hole
so many literary connections and affairs! might need to get a copy of Olivia soon…
This is a really interesting article and the books look really interesting! The boarding school trope/experience is really interesting to look into.
Boarding schools have always been a place of homosociality and extreme isolation where girls are sequestered away during some really formative years. When they have no contact with the outside world it makes sense that they gravitate towards figures like teachers and other students. I read Learned by Heart by Emma Donoghue last year and it was an interesting look at the queerness of a girl’s boarding school.
I know it’s well recorded among boy’s schools but it’s interesting to see that it’s well recorded in novels about girls boarding schools too! I’ll have to check out some of those books!
I've got Learned by Heart on my shelves and know it's based on a true story, but haven't read it yet.
In novels but also by real life people like Natalie Barney and possibly Eleanor Roosevelt :)
I am a little obsessed with Anne Lister who the book is about and Eliza Raine is a tragic figure. I think Donoghue does really well in capturing that adolescent obsession with your best friend that I know many of us queer folk have had
I think you'll like both Olivia and Thérèse et Isabelle because they both capture that adolescent obsession as well :)
Eliza Raine was half-Indian, and supposedly the model for Mrs. Rochester in Jane Eyre. I loved Jane Eyre as a kid, so the casual racist angle makes me a little sad (though, of course, it was normal for that era).
I really will have to check those books out. I’ve never heard of the Eliza Raine/Bertha Rochester link but I know what I’ll be investigating tonight because the connection makes sense even if the implications are awful
This was really an interesting read! Also, similar aituations with our grandparents, except the age gap between mine was 7. Thank you for introducing me to so many books!
Common, probably, in South Asian families?
Glad you're hearing about new books through me. It was one of my intentions.
The thing is, Queer people have been marginalized for a *long* time, so the bits of representation we get from the 20th century and earlier are often quite 'flawed'. Age gaps, infidelity, and so on.
Funnily enough, my grandparents also had a big age gap (about 10 years). I think it depends a lot on the situation. For example, I'm 21 and I would never date a 16yo (5-year gap) because there's a huge gap in terms of maturity, but dating a 26yo (same gap) doesn't feel so weird.