Escaping the Women’s Sphere in Neo-Victorian Fiction

Abstract

This article looks at two turn-of-the-century neo-Victorian works – Tipping the Velvet (1998) by Sarah Waters and Dan Leno and the Limehouse Golem (1994) by Peter Ackroyd. Both novels offer a detailed depiction of cross-dressing and theatre in the latter part of the nineteenth century and its effects on the main characters. The article analyses each work individually to sufficiently examine significant relationships and their impact on the main heroines’ character formation. Furthermore, it looks at gender performativity in the Victorian setting and the unique environment of the music halls. As demonstrated, the examined characters achieve liberation by occupying both male and female spheres and by refusing to propagate the strict rules encompassing gender binaries. As a result, both characters are able to freely explore their possibilities while wearing male clothes and arrive at a more authentic and well-rounded image of who they are.

Keywords

• neo-victorian literature
• cross-dressing
• sarah waters
• peter ackroyd
• music halls