Date of Award
Summer 8-23-2025
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Ph.D. in English
Organizational Unit
College of Arts Humanities and Social Sciences, English and Literary Arts
First Advisor
Clark Davis
Second Advisor
Menglu Gao
Third Advisor
Ryan D. Perry
Copyright Statement / License for Reuse
All Rights Reserved.
Keywords
Lesbian, Literature, Nineteenth century, Queer studies, Sapphic
Abstract
This dissertation examines the interactions between cultural perceptions and literary representations of sapphic people in the nineteenth century as well as the ways in which sapphic writers responded to societal vilification. In this project, I argue that these literary and cultural responses to sapphic figures actively participated in the construction of the social terms through which sapphic folk were perceived while sapphic writers developed literary and social strategies to resist these narratives. Beginning with the Ladies of Llangollen, each chapter explores a specific moment of cultural shifts in perceptions of sapphic folk and the literature that comes from these shifts and growing fears. Amidst these rising fears, sapphic folk formed communities and developed means of self-representation that resisted these narratives. The first chapter is an introduction in which I detail the rationale behind this project, the terms and methods of this project, and summarize the chapters. The second chapter examines the lives the Ladies of Llangollen, which I argue represents a recurring pattern of sapphic literary history as they move from acceptable to suspect and finally to othered. The third chapter argues that the Cult of Domesticity shaped how independent, masculine-coded women were portrayed in novels like Shirley, while sapphic folk like Anne Lister and Margaret Fuller used life-writing to represent sapphic life on their own terms, establishing a dialogue between mainstream literature and sapphic self-representation. The fourth chapter examines the role of Gothic literature in shaping the figure of the monstrous sapphic and argues that sapphic writers adapted the genre into the Sapphic Gothic to rebel against patriarchal powers through these adaptations. The fifth chapter argues that the dialogue between mainstream culture and literature comes to a head at the end of the century through the legal and social persecution of sapphic folk in conjunction with sexology and punitive narratives while sapphic communities like that of Natalie Clifford Barney’s literary salon use rebellious joy to stand in defiance to this persecution. The conclusion of this dissertation is an outline of personal drivers behind this project, as well as the ways in which I plan to expand this work.
Copyright Date
8-2025
Publication Statement
Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.
Rights Holder
Michelina R. Nelson-Olivieri
Provenance
Received from ProQuest
File Format
application/pdf
Language
English (eng)
Extent
234 pgs
File Size
1.1 MB
Recommended Citation
Nelson-Olivieri, Michelina R., "The Sin That Dared Speak Its Name: Rewriting the Sapphic in Nineteenth-Century Literature After the Ladies of Llangollen" (2025). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 2642.
https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd/2642
Included in
Fiction Commons, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies Commons, Other English Language and Literature Commons, Women's Studies Commons