Abstract
In his article “What is Neo-Victorian Studies?” (2008), Mark Lewellyn argues that the term neo-Victorian fiction refers to works that are consciously set in the Victorian period, but introduce representations of marginalised voices, new histories of sexuality, post-colonial viewpoints and other generally ‘different’ versions of the Victorian era. Valerie Martin’s gothic-romance Mary Reilly drew on Stevenson’s novella to introduce a woman’s perspective on the puzzle of Jekyll and Hyde. Almost twenty-years after the publication of Martin’s novel, the newly established field of research in Neo-Victorian fiction has questioned the extent to which Neo-Victorian recreations of the Victorian past respond to postmodern contemporary reflections and ideas about the period. This article aims to examine the ways in which this Neo-Victorian gothic text addresses both the issues of Victorian femininity and feminist principles now in the light of later Neo-Victorian precepts, taking into consideration that Martin’s novel introduces a woman’s perspective as a feminist response to Stevenson’s text but also includes many allusions to the cult of domesticity as a legacy of the Victorian gothic romance.
Highlights
Drew on Stevenson’s novella to introduce a woman’s perspective on the puzzle of Jekyll and Hyde
This article aims to examine the ways in which this Neo-Victorian gothic text addresses both the issues of Victorian femininity and feminist principles in the light of later Neo-Victorian precepts, taking into consideration that Martin’s novel introduces a woman’s perspective as a feminist response to Stevenson’s text and includes many allusions to the cult of domesticity as a legacy of the Victorian gothic romance
Mary Reilly has been highlighted as a Neo-Victorian popular romance, as Martin transformed Stevenson’s gothic novella into a gothic love story
Summary
Valerie Martin’s novel, Mary Reilly, was highlighted as an original interpretation of Jekyll’s tragedy, a fresh twist on the classic Jekylland-Hyde story. -, is subverted in Martin’s novel, from the moment a female and a member of the underprivileged classes takes the lead of the narrative In this respect, it fulfils the aim of Neo-Victorian fiction as far as it can be described as historical narratives of that period “representing marginalised voices, new histories of sexuality, post-colonial viewpoints and other generally ‘different’ versions of the Victorian” (Llewellyn 2008: 165). It fulfils the aim of Neo-Victorian fiction as far as it can be described as historical narratives of that period “representing marginalised voices, new histories of sexuality, post-colonial viewpoints and other generally ‘different’ versions of the Victorian” (Llewellyn 2008: 165) In this respect, Martin’s novel, published in 1990, accounts for the fin-de-siècle Victorian revivalism which “located the Victorian age as historically central to late-century postmodern consciousness” (Kucich and Sadoff 2000: xi)
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