Overview

In Neo-Victorian Lesbians on Screen, Maier and Friars argue that the on-screen portrayal of lesbians situated in the long nineteenth century across various countries is at the very least a dual task; the imperative project of revoicing lesbian silence and female companionship is complicated by the lack of and/or complex representation of such women in the past. The adaptations, with varying degrees of success, carefully manipulate the gaze of the viewer to illustrate both how crucial the act of looking proves to be for lesbian attachment in these films and how the viewer's own gaze changes the way the lesbian is represented. Maier and Friars consider the adaptations' awareness of the audience, and the ways in which the films implicitly acknowledge the stakes behind bringing the lesbian to life, as it were, in visual media. Because screen adaptations disrupt historical distance by literally picturing Victorian subjects via a medium they did not have, film adaptations of novels and biofictions, and original screenplays are challenged by the lesbian subject's vivid presence on screen. The lesbian is no longer a contained (neo)Victorian presence in the 'othered' nineteenth century, but her very existence on screen signals her effervescent modernity, which filmmakers alternately embrace or reject.

Full Product Details

Author:   Sarah E. Maier ,  Rachel M. Friars
Publisher:   Anthem Press
Imprint:   Anthem Press
Dimensions:   Width: 15.30cm , Height: 1.60cm , Length: 22.90cm
Weight:   0.454kg
ISBN:  

9781839994555

ISBN 10:   183999455
Pages:   226
Publication Date:   09 September 2025
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

Acknowledgements; Chapter One-Neo-Victorian Lesbians on Screen; Chapter Two-“Damn you for staring at me!”: Spectacle and Spectatorship; Chapter Three-Illusions of Control: Pornographic Excess and Lesbian Eroticism in Fingersmith (2005); Chapter Four-Stoically Sapphic: Gentlemanly Encryption and Disruptive; One; Chapter Six-“Fucking Bitches”: The Biofictional Recreation; Chapter Seven-Quaint Collaborators: Women in Love or, Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019); Chapter Eight-Of Masculine Mind and Lesbian Body: Mary Anning in Ammonite (2020); Chapter Nine-“I stand before my duties weeping”: Queer Failure in The World to Come (2020); Chapter Ten-Killing Mr. Rochester: Lesbian Desire and Post-Heritage Violence in; Killing Mr. Rochester: Lesbian Desire and Post-Heritage Violence in; The Confessions of Frannie Langton (2022); Epilogue: The Future of Lesbians on Screen; Index

Reviews

“Neo-Victorian Lesbians on Screen explores lesbian representation in nineteenth-century-set films and series, including Tipping the Velvet, Gentleman Jack, and Portrait of a Lady on Fire. Maier and Friars examine how these portrayals challenge historical silences, interrogate the viewer’s gaze, and reimagine the visibility of Victorian lesbian identities onscreen.” —Brenda Ayres, Liberty University, VA, USA.

Author Information

Sarah E. Maier PhD, is Professor of English & Comparative Literature at the University of New Brunswick. Rachel M. Friars PhD, is an independent scholar.

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