Gendering Classicism: The Ancient World in Twentieth-Century Women's Historical Fiction 9780791433362

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ERING - -~ LASSICISM

The Ancient World in Twentieth-Century Women's Historical Fiction '

GENDERING CLASSICISM

GENDERING CLASSICISM The Ancient World in Twentieth-Century Women's Historical Fiction

RUTH HOBERMAN

State University of New York Press

Selections from "Care in Calling" and "Back to the Mother Breast," from The Poems of Laura Riding: A New Edition of the 1938 Collection, by Laura (Riding) Jackson, copyright © by Laura (Riding) Jackson 1938, 1980. Reprinted by permission of Persea Books, Inc. In conformity with the late author's wish, her Board of Literary Management asks us to record that, in 1941, Laura (Riding) Jackson renounced, on grounds of linguistic principle, the writing of poetry: she had come to hold that "poetry obstructs general attainment to something better in our linguistic way-of-life than we have." Published by State University of New York Press, Albany © 1997 State University of New York All rights reserved Production by Susan Geraghty Marketing by Dana Yanulavich Printed in the United States of America No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher. For information, address State University of New York Press, State University Plaza, Albany, N.Y., 12246

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Hoberman, Ruth. Gendering classicism : the ancient world in twentieth-century women's historical fiction/ Ruth Hoberman. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-7914-3335-8 (alk. paper). - ISBN 0-7914-3336-6 (pb: alk. paper)

1. Historical fiction, English-History and criticism. 2. Women and literature-Great Britain-History-20th century. 3. English fiction-Women authors-History and criticism. 4. English fict ion- 20th century-History and criticism. 5. Classicism- Great Britain-History-20th century. 6. Civilization, Classica l, in literature. 7. English fiction-Classical influences. 8. Civilization, Ancient, in literature. 9. Greece-In literature. 10. Rome-In literature. I. Title. PR888.H5H63 1997 823 · .081099287-dc20

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

96-30584 CIP

For my parents

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CONTENTS

Acknowledgments Chapter 1

Reading History/ Resisting History

Chapter 2

Greece, Gender, and The Golden Bough

IX

1 15

Chapter 3 History, Ritual, and Gender in Naotni Mitchison's Greece

25

Chapter 4

43

Mana and Narrative in Mary Butts's Greece

Chapter 5 Cressida's Complexity: Laura Riding Unwrites the White Goddess

57

Chapter 6 Masquing the Phallus: Genital Ambiguity in Mary Renault's Historical Novels

73

Chapter 7 History as Palimpsest: Gender and Narrative in Bryher's Gate to the Sea

89

Chapter 8

Ancient Rome, Gender, and British Irnperialisn1

103

Chapter 9

Hostage to History: Naomi Mitchison and Rome

119

Chapter 10 When Mana Meets Woman: Mary Butts's Cleopatra

137

Chapter 11

151

Phyllis Bentley: Historical Fiction as Equivocation

Vil

VIII

CONTENTS

Chapter 12

Bryher the Graeco-Phoenician and Ro me

165

Chapter 13 "I am his fulfilment": Claiming the Paternal Inheritance

177

Works Cited

181

Index

193

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This book, a long time in the making, owes a great deal to many different people and institutions. For financial support, I am gratefuJ to Eastern Illinois University for a Summer Research Grant, and to the National Endowment for the Humanities, which funded the summer seminar in which I began the project and then awarded me a summer stipend to help me continue my work on it. For practical help I am grateful to the Interlibrary Loan and Circulation staff at Booth Library of Eastern Illinois University-Suellen Eggers, Leeila Ennis, Helen Gregg, Nancy Jones, Jane Lasky, Lon Miller, and Lucy Webb; for the last seven years they have tirelessly supplied me with the articles and books I needed. For allowing me access to Bryher's library, I would like to thank Perdita Schaffner. The original impetus to write this book I owe to Dan Schwartz, director of the 1988 summer seminar "New Perspectives on the Modern British Novel." Without his encouragment I would never have had the courage to embark on so large a project; once I did begin work on it, his advice and support were invaluable. My colleagues and former colleagues at Eastern Illinois University have also provided advice, feedback, and moral support. Deb Clarke and J)avid Raybin read and responded to early chapters; Susan Bazargan read and responded to nearly all of them. To Susan in particular I am grateful: for her intellectual lucidity, her collegiality, and her extraordinarily helpful readings of my work. The anonymous readers at Contemporary Literature, T wentieth Century Literature, and SUNY Press have also provided helpful suggestions; and my husband, Richard Sylvia, has not only read, critiqu