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Sexual Anarchy: Gender and Culture at the Fin de Siècle
This book looks at parallels between the ends of the 19th and 20th centuries and their representations in literature, art and film. This book ranges over the trial of Oscar Wilde, the public furore over prostitution and syphilis, moral outrage over the breakdown of the family, abortion rights and AIDS. High and low culture, from male quest romances to contemporary male bonding movies, Freud to Fatal Attraction , are all included in his study.
256 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1990
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1017 people want to read
About the author
Elaine Showalter
77 books143 followersElaine Showalter is an American literary critic, feminist, and writer on cultural and social issues. She is one of the founders of feminist literary criticism in United States academia, developing the concept and practice of gynocritics.
She is well known and respected in both academic and popular cultural fields. She has written and edited numerous books and articles focussed on a variety of subjects, from feminist literary criticism to fashion, sometimes sparking widespread controversy, especially with her work on illnesses. Showalter has been a television critic for People magazine and a commentator on BBC radio and television.
(source: Wikipedia)
She is well known and respected in both academic and popular cultural fields. She has written and edited numerous books and articles focussed on a variety of subjects, from feminist literary criticism to fashion, sometimes sparking widespread controversy, especially with her work on illnesses. Showalter has been a television critic for People magazine and a commentator on BBC radio and television.
(source: Wikipedia)
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
January 17, 2021
This is a really fascinating analysis of the ends of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, looking at culture of all types and varieties, written in 1991; the main focus is on the late nineteenth century. Showalter is wide-ranging and her analysis is thought provoking. The topics include what Showalter terms Odd Women, those who did not marry, partly due to population pressures in the late nineteenth century, partly choice and partly the inability men who were self-aware enough not to be threatened by modern women. There is a chapter on the New Women writers and the influence of Eliot, Darwin and socialism; with a separate chapter on Eliot’s inheritance. Another chapter covers the male action romance type novel as written by Haggard, Henley, Stephenson, Kipling and their ilk; not to forget an emerging author by the name of Conrad. A whole chapter is devoted to Jekyll and Hyde and the sexuality contained within and this moves across the century looking and film representations as well. A further chapter looks at female sexuality and the portrayal of the female body, followed by another chapter on Wilde’s Salome and the veiling of women. 1890s decadence and the relationship between homosexuality and feminism are covered and the book ends with an interesting comparison between AIDS and syphilis.
There is too much to cover in one review, so I will pick out a few things which struck me. It is easy to forget how significant syphilis was at the end of the nineteenth century; there was no cure and no effective treatments at that time and the language written about syphilis is reminiscent of the language used about AIDS, especially in terms of judgement and punishment.
The chapter on the New Women writers was an eye-opener and so was the fact that more than 60% of novels being written at that time were written by women. If you look at the novels still widely read they tend to be primarily by men. Many of the novelists who wrote about women’s issues were collectively referred to as New Women. Writers such as Ella Hepworth Dixon, Margaret Harkness, Annie Holdsworth, Isabella Ford, Netta Syrett, Mona Caird, Charlotte Mew, Sarah Grand, Olive Schreiner to name a few. Many of these writers were following in the tradition of George Eliot or reacting to her influence. Her death in 1880 was a watershed. Showalter also includes a hilarious description of a 1980 academic anniversary conference to commemorate her death (the book is worth reading just for that). Some of these writers are now little read outside academic circles whereas their male contemporaries (Kipling, Conrad, Stephenson, Conan Doyle, Wells, Haggard and even Wilde) are at the top of many reading lists relating to this period. One does have to ask if this is because the male writers were so much better or if their message fitted better with the ruling zeitgeist.
Showalter’s analysis of some of the popular male writers is incisive and at times very funny. In late nineteenth century fiction there was valourisation of male creative generation and a denigration of female powers of creation and reproduction. The poet Gerald Manley Hopkins saying “the begetting of one’s thoughts on paper is a kind of male gift”, sums up a particular and widely held viewpoint. The powers of creation and procreation were imagined into a male preserve;
“In numerous texts, male writers imagined fantastic plots involving alternative forms of male reproduction or self-replication: splitting or cloning as in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde; reincarnation as in Rider Haggard’s She; transfusion as in Dracula; aesthetic duplication as in The Picture of Dorian Gray; or vivisection as in The Island of Dr Moreau”
This made me look at some well-known novels in a new way. This was writing for boys and often women were largely excluded to combat fears of “manly decline in the face of female power”. It’s also the first time I’ve heard Heart of Darkness described as a masculine quest romance. Showalter describes a quest romance as an “allegorized journey into the self”. One of the more interesting examples is Kipling’s The Man who would be King, made into a film starring Michael Caine and Sean Connery. More interesting because it is also a satire on political and literary power. Then, of course, there is Heart of Darkness. Showalter argues that Heart of Darkness is not only an attempt at an expose of imperialism (not to mention racism within it), but also an allegory of male bonding and a flight from women. Marlow says, “It’s queer how out of touch with the truth women are. They live in a world of their own.” Showalter points out it is easy to see Marlow as Kurtz’s double. Orson Welles had planned to film the book in the late 1930s and he had intended to play both Kurtz and Marlow (might have made an interesting film). Showalter also provides an analysis of Apocalypse Now.
There is a fascinating analysis of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (which Showalter refers to as Gay Gothic) which is really about a personality that splits and of course about the repression of homosexual desire and the inevitable conclusion that it is better to die than let it loose. Not an unusual thought process. Remember what A E Housman said in the poem A Shropshire Lad;
“Shot? So quick, so clean an ending?
Oh that was right, lad, that was brave:
Yours was not an ill for mending,
‘Twas best to take it to the grave”
This was in contrast to the attitudes of the decadents of the 1890s (Wilde etc)
There really is a great deal in this book, especially if you are a fan of this period of history. What I appreciated most was the introduction to many writers I had not known before.
There is too much to cover in one review, so I will pick out a few things which struck me. It is easy to forget how significant syphilis was at the end of the nineteenth century; there was no cure and no effective treatments at that time and the language written about syphilis is reminiscent of the language used about AIDS, especially in terms of judgement and punishment.
The chapter on the New Women writers was an eye-opener and so was the fact that more than 60% of novels being written at that time were written by women. If you look at the novels still widely read they tend to be primarily by men. Many of the novelists who wrote about women’s issues were collectively referred to as New Women. Writers such as Ella Hepworth Dixon, Margaret Harkness, Annie Holdsworth, Isabella Ford, Netta Syrett, Mona Caird, Charlotte Mew, Sarah Grand, Olive Schreiner to name a few. Many of these writers were following in the tradition of George Eliot or reacting to her influence. Her death in 1880 was a watershed. Showalter also includes a hilarious description of a 1980 academic anniversary conference to commemorate her death (the book is worth reading just for that). Some of these writers are now little read outside academic circles whereas their male contemporaries (Kipling, Conrad, Stephenson, Conan Doyle, Wells, Haggard and even Wilde) are at the top of many reading lists relating to this period. One does have to ask if this is because the male writers were so much better or if their message fitted better with the ruling zeitgeist.
Showalter’s analysis of some of the popular male writers is incisive and at times very funny. In late nineteenth century fiction there was valourisation of male creative generation and a denigration of female powers of creation and reproduction. The poet Gerald Manley Hopkins saying “the begetting of one’s thoughts on paper is a kind of male gift”, sums up a particular and widely held viewpoint. The powers of creation and procreation were imagined into a male preserve;
“In numerous texts, male writers imagined fantastic plots involving alternative forms of male reproduction or self-replication: splitting or cloning as in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde; reincarnation as in Rider Haggard’s She; transfusion as in Dracula; aesthetic duplication as in The Picture of Dorian Gray; or vivisection as in The Island of Dr Moreau”
This made me look at some well-known novels in a new way. This was writing for boys and often women were largely excluded to combat fears of “manly decline in the face of female power”. It’s also the first time I’ve heard Heart of Darkness described as a masculine quest romance. Showalter describes a quest romance as an “allegorized journey into the self”. One of the more interesting examples is Kipling’s The Man who would be King, made into a film starring Michael Caine and Sean Connery. More interesting because it is also a satire on political and literary power. Then, of course, there is Heart of Darkness. Showalter argues that Heart of Darkness is not only an attempt at an expose of imperialism (not to mention racism within it), but also an allegory of male bonding and a flight from women. Marlow says, “It’s queer how out of touch with the truth women are. They live in a world of their own.” Showalter points out it is easy to see Marlow as Kurtz’s double. Orson Welles had planned to film the book in the late 1930s and he had intended to play both Kurtz and Marlow (might have made an interesting film). Showalter also provides an analysis of Apocalypse Now.
There is a fascinating analysis of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (which Showalter refers to as Gay Gothic) which is really about a personality that splits and of course about the repression of homosexual desire and the inevitable conclusion that it is better to die than let it loose. Not an unusual thought process. Remember what A E Housman said in the poem A Shropshire Lad;
“Shot? So quick, so clean an ending?
Oh that was right, lad, that was brave:
Yours was not an ill for mending,
‘Twas best to take it to the grave”
This was in contrast to the attitudes of the decadents of the 1890s (Wilde etc)
There really is a great deal in this book, especially if you are a fan of this period of history. What I appreciated most was the introduction to many writers I had not known before.
January 28, 2013
I do not normally read literary criticism but I found this book fascinating. The author posits the later years of the 19th century as a period during which male novelists,upset that women were selling more novels than they, attacked women through their novels as well as excluding them from their clubs. It was also a period when a double standard continued, as it does to this day, in society. Showalter uses novels e.g. Rider Haggard's 'She' and Kipling's 'Man Who Would Be King' to show the denigration of women and the 'appropriateness' of male bonding. Later she uses plays e.g. Wilde's 'Salome' to show a different type of male bonding existed and society's attitude toward that. The last chapter draws parallels between the sexual anarchy of the late 1800s and that of the late 1900s using two STDs, syphilis and AIDS. The book exemplifies the axiom, "the more things change, the more they stay the same."
March 28, 2022
the later chapters were more interesting to read
September 1, 2022
Started reading this one for my dissertation research.
In-depth information about the fin de siecle, would recommend if you are in need of context for uni work or you are just into history .
In-depth information about the fin de siecle, would recommend if you are in need of context for uni work or you are just into history .
October 9, 2024
Ak kaip žmogiška, net jei moterys vampyrės, nes reik kraujo po menstruacijos, net jei žudai žmones, nes esi closeted gay, net jei nemėgsti moterų, nes esi gėjus, ir tik vyrai verti žavėjimosi. Kaip juokinga, bet kaip žmogu.
October 17, 2017
A thorough exploration of the idea and feeling of the fin de siecle both in the 19th century and the 20th century, particularly through the lens of sexuality and gender and how those are represented in culture. So many of the same fears: the decline of civilization due to the changing roles of men and women and a sexually transmitted disease, no matter what the century. It's both heartening and depressing to see how far we have come and in many ways how far we have not.
In such a book it is always hard to choose what items and themes to explore and what ones not to include. There is always something that someone feels should have been in the text; it is not possible to cover everything. Sometimes one must be sacrificed for another for the sake of the conciseness of the arguments and points as well as readability. That being said, I was still surprised that more attention was not paid to lesbians in the various cultural expression. There was less produced in the 19th century in comparison to well-known works of gays and the subtext of homosexuality in the popular adventure stories and stories like Dracula or Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde but it did exist.
I also thought that the analysis of Salome, and Dracula to some extent, went a little too far time wise. The focus of this book was the phenomena of the fin de siecle but when the analysis is brought to the 30s, 50, 70s, and beyond for Salome and Dracula you lose some of that specific touchstone around which this book is constructed.
It is well written and provides many areas of analysis and is not just limited to one form of cultural expression that is explored.
In such a book it is always hard to choose what items and themes to explore and what ones not to include. There is always something that someone feels should have been in the text; it is not possible to cover everything. Sometimes one must be sacrificed for another for the sake of the conciseness of the arguments and points as well as readability. That being said, I was still surprised that more attention was not paid to lesbians in the various cultural expression. There was less produced in the 19th century in comparison to well-known works of gays and the subtext of homosexuality in the popular adventure stories and stories like Dracula or Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde but it did exist.
I also thought that the analysis of Salome, and Dracula to some extent, went a little too far time wise. The focus of this book was the phenomena of the fin de siecle but when the analysis is brought to the 30s, 50, 70s, and beyond for Salome and Dracula you lose some of that specific touchstone around which this book is constructed.
It is well written and provides many areas of analysis and is not just limited to one form of cultural expression that is explored.
December 31, 2017
I was a little disappointed to find this book is primarily a work of literary criticism and not a consideration of the broader implications of sexual turmoil at the turning of the last two centuries. Visual art, theater, film, politics, and other aspects of culture are touched on lightly but the focus is on the written word. There's still plenty of interesting material here, some familiar to me and some obscure. The lens of interpretation is modern feminist, which sometimes -- at least to this penetrating male eye -- contorts the conclusions into uncomfortable, even obsessive, patterns of gender animosity, ideas with some validity but which never tell the entire story. H. Rider Haggard's work, for example, isn't "about excluding women," though it was certainly reactive to the ladies novels of the period and concerned men doing manly things. Strangeness isn't always about a masculine fear of one's own closeted desires. My favorite chapters here are about the New Woman authors and the writers, male and female, who wrote in reaction to the popularity of George Eliot. I also enjoyed the chapter on the various meanings of Salome in the culture on the fin de siecle, perhaps because that chapter was concerned with more than Wilde's play and provided some insight into broader cultural realms. Not the book I was expecting to read but readable in the extreme and, even when I did not buy its conclusions, always thought-provoking.
March 31, 2016
Sexual Anarchy is pretty much a must-read for anyone interested in the fin de siecle. I was mostly aiming for the New Woman chapters, since that is what my essay will deal with, but decided to read the whole book since it is truly a smooth read and very informative, giving a general insight into fin-de-siecle culture.
Not only does it discuss elements of fin-de-siecle culture in minute detail, this book also manages to connect these with contemporary (for the time - it was published in the late 20th century) issues. The chapter on AIDS and venereal disease, for example, was very interesting for its description of the similarities in discourse surrounding these diseases in their historical context.
Though some of the material is slightly outdated by now, as research into this specific area has increased rather a lot in the past decades, it is still a good start for any student looking for a handbook to guide them through the basic principles of the late Victorians.
Not only does it discuss elements of fin-de-siecle culture in minute detail, this book also manages to connect these with contemporary (for the time - it was published in the late 20th century) issues. The chapter on AIDS and venereal disease, for example, was very interesting for its description of the similarities in discourse surrounding these diseases in their historical context.
Though some of the material is slightly outdated by now, as research into this specific area has increased rather a lot in the past decades, it is still a good start for any student looking for a handbook to guide them through the basic principles of the late Victorians.
September 14, 2007
Another book I plan to keep on my coffee table when I become a pastor, just to keep people on their toes.
Actually, this book is a really incisive look at English attitudes towards sex, the body, gender, and sexuality at the end of the 19th century. Really, really interesting, and also shockingly similar to the debates and concerns fanned into fire by politicians and hype-obsessed religious-folk in the 20th/21st century as well. Just goes to show that sex and the body are societal fears that never die, no matter how much we seem to "progress."
Actually, this book is a really incisive look at English attitudes towards sex, the body, gender, and sexuality at the end of the 19th century. Really, really interesting, and also shockingly similar to the debates and concerns fanned into fire by politicians and hype-obsessed religious-folk in the 20th/21st century as well. Just goes to show that sex and the body are societal fears that never die, no matter how much we seem to "progress."
December 17, 2007
read this for my masters project, and it was really very interesting
January 17, 2008
Absolutely loved this book! The title is a bit odd, but it's about the end of the 19th century and the struggle between men and women writers. I would recommend it to anyone!
Want to read
December 20, 2009Sexual Anarchy: Gender and Culture at the Fin de Siecle by Elaine Showalter (1991)
May 7, 2012
read for uni.
March 16, 2013
A clever, well-written and very insightful study of gender relations in the fin de siècle period! And also very useful for anyone interested in gender studies/feminism! A must read.
January 18, 2017
ILL
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 10, 2021
Very clever book linking literature and history of sexuality at the end of the 19th century with the late 20th Century. The impression one gets is that the one epoch is not much different from the other, just perhaps more openly expressed in late 20th - early 21st C. This seems to confirm other studies (like Walkowitz on Victorian London, Stone on early modern England, etc). Fun using literature (broadly defined) and history together to make the point. It could be argued that the author cherry-picked certain cases and sources to make her point. But that is almost inevitable given length constraints of books and particularly as Showalter comes primarily out of the literature (as opposed to history) discipline.
November 19, 2021
Doesn't quite cover as broad a selection of the decadent authors as I would have liked, and ponders perhaps too long on Wilde's (oft over elaborated) role in defining the movement, but I truly do appreciate the perspective on why the fin de Siecle has become so popular in an inter/post AIDs world considering its roots in the syphilis pandemic of the turn of the century Europe.
June 12, 2021
Showalter is such an engaging writer. The parallels she draws between the end of the 19th and 20th centuries are fascinating; it's also interesting to note how the sexual and literary landscapes have changed in the thirty years since this book was published.
April 12, 2024
I did really like this book but I found it hard to finish. A deep dive into repressed sexuality at the end of the 1800s and parallels in the end of 1900s. My fav parts were the Oscar Wilde and George Elliot.
October 29, 2024
really wonderful and important analysis of fin de siecle literature! found the analysis of Egerton’s work a little lacking, but understandably so, but an incredibly important piece of literary criticism.
December 14, 2025
Jeszcze do tego wrócę w wolnym czasie
Read
May 12, 202210.58pm // stopped at pg.152.
(no rating as it is a school text)
06th March 2022 to 08th March 2022
(no rating as it is a school text)
06th March 2022 to 08th March 2022
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews