Katie Meynell | University of Oxford (original) (raw)
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Thesis Chapters by Katie Meynell
University of Oxford, 2019
Although androgyny in Decadence has been explored through its stock characters – such as the dand... more Although androgyny in Decadence has been explored through its stock characters – such as the dandy, the hermaphrodite and the vampire – few critics have studied androgyny through moon symbolism. This dissertation explores the function of the moon as a polysemous Decadent symbol, which changes from a traditional symbol of female virginity and chastity to a symbol of androgyny and gender fluidity. Rachilde’s French Decadent plays, Madame la Mort [Mistress of Death] (1891) and Volupté [Pleasure] (1896), attribute lunar imagery to both male and female lunacy. Rachilde further interrogates issues of gender identity in Monsieur Vénus, challenging the cult of female invalidism by applying lunar descriptions to her eponymous, seemingly androgynous, male protagonist. Wilde’s Salome likewise explores androgyny through the lunar imagery which connects Salome with Iokanaan – the object of her desire. The overlap between Rachilde’s and Wilde’s lunar imagery suggests their reciprocal influence. Whereas Arthur Symons’ earlier poetry offers a more gendered approach to moon symbolism, his ‘Studies in Strange Sins’ – inspired by Beardsley’s illustrations of Wilde’s Salome – in fact contains androgynous figures who are physically and metaphorically illuminated by the moon.
University of Oxford, 2019
Although androgyny in Decadence has been explored through its stock characters – such as the dand... more Although androgyny in Decadence has been explored through its stock characters – such as the dandy, the hermaphrodite and the vampire – few critics have studied androgyny through moon symbolism. This dissertation explores the function of the moon as a polysemous Decadent symbol, which changes from a traditional symbol of female virginity and chastity to a symbol of androgyny and gender fluidity. Rachilde’s French Decadent plays, Madame la Mort [Mistress of Death] (1891) and Volupté [Pleasure] (1896), attribute lunar imagery to both male and female lunacy. Rachilde further interrogates issues of gender identity in Monsieur Vénus, challenging the cult of female invalidism by applying lunar descriptions to her eponymous, seemingly androgynous, male protagonist. Wilde’s Salome likewise explores androgyny through the lunar imagery which connects Salome with Iokanaan – the object of her desire. The overlap between Rachilde’s and Wilde’s lunar imagery suggests their reciprocal influence. Whereas Arthur Symons’ earlier poetry offers a more gendered approach to moon symbolism, his ‘Studies in Strange Sins’ – inspired by Beardsley’s illustrations of Wilde’s Salome – in fact contains androgynous figures who are physically and metaphorically illuminated by the moon.