Sleeping Beauties in Victorian Britain
Cultural, Literary and Artistic Explorations of a Myth
- Editore:
Lang, Peter
- EAN:
9783034317450
- ISBN:
303431745X
- Pagine:
- 244
- Formato:
- Paperback
- Lingua:
- Tedesco
Descrizione Sleeping Beauties in Victorian Britain
Artists, scientists and the wider public of the Victorian era all seem to have shared a common interest in the myth of the Briar Rose and its contemporary implications, from the Pre-Raphaelites and late Victorian aesthetes to the fascinated crowds who visited Ellen Sadler, the real-life 'Sleeping Maid' who is reported to have slept from 1871 to 1880. The figure of the beautiful reclining female sleeper is a recurring theme in the Victorian imagination, invoking visual, literary and erotic connotations that contribute to a complex range of readings involving aesthetics, gender definitions and contemporary medical opinion. This book compiles and examines a corpus of Sleeping Beauties drawn from Victorian medical reports, literature and the arts and explores the significance of the enduring revival of the myth.