“Chieftaness,” “Great Duchess,” “Editress! Mysterious Being!”: Performing Editorial Identities in Florence Marryat’s London Society Magazine

Abstract

This article examines Florence Marryat’s editorship of the shilling monthly London Society from 1872 to 1876. Reading the archival correspondence between Marryat and her mostly male contributors it becomes clear that their ambivalence about female editorial authority is reflected in their re-writings of Marryat’s identity. However, rather than being defined or contained by the ways in which her contributors figured her, Marryat enacted multiple editorial identities as empowering performative strategies. These identities are played out in London Society ’s articles and illustrations and become the means by which she made her mark on the magazine and negotiated its niche in the periodical marketplace.