In "the Sumptuous Rank of the Signifier" The Gendered Tattoo in Mr. Meeson's Will

[...]I examine the ways in which the tattoo acts as a means of control over the transgressive quasi-heroine, evaluating the tattoo as a marker of both sexuality and desexualization, as well as literal and figurative evidence of female commodification. [...]I explore the tattoo's gendered relati...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Victorian review 2009-04, Vol.35 (1), p.229-251
Main Author:	MURPHY, PATRICIA
Format:	Article
Language:	eng
Subjects:	1800-1899 Authors Body Book publishing Commodification Commodities Criminals English Literature Females Femininity Gender/Sexuality Haggard, H. Rider (Henry Rider) Haggard, Henry Rider, Sir Haggard, Sir Henry Rider Imperialism last will and testament Literary criticism Men Mr Meeson's Will Nineteenth Century novel Novelists Novels Publishing industry semiotic approach sex roles Sexuality Smithers, Augusta (character) sociocultural approach Tattooing Tattooing in literature Tattoos Torture transgression Victorian period Victorians Women Writers
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Summary:	[...]I examine the ways in which the tattoo acts as a means of control over the transgressive quasi-heroine, evaluating the tattoo as a marker of both sexuality and desexualization, as well as literal and figurative evidence of female commodification. [...]I explore the tattoo's gendered relationship to the processes of cultural inscription. Though publishing data do not demonstrate a massive incursion into the market by women authors, as scholarship has discussed, a widespread belief held "that women were taking over the literary world" and enjoying "a distinct advantage in the literary marketplace" (Ardis 42-43).4 Augusta's best-selling novel would tap into and reflect anxieties about female power in the publishing market, in spite of the traditional heroine her novel apparently champions. [...]Meeson refuses to pay Augusta fairly, and her sister soon dies.
ISSN:	0848-1512 1923-3280 1923-3280