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Anne Lister and the Classics

Castle, T. (1993) Apparitional Lesbian: Female Homosexuality and Modern Culture, New York. [ch. 5 on Lister]

Clark, A. (1996) “Anne Lister’s Construction of Lesbian Identity,” Journal of the History of Sexuality 7: 23-50.

Clark, A. (1998) “Anne Lister’s Reading of the Classics,” Women’s History Notebooks 5: 3-8.

Clark, A. (2017) Alternative Histories of the Self: A Cultural History of Sexuality and Secrets, 1762-1917, London. [ch. 3 on Lister]

Rowanchild, A. (2006) “‘Peeping behind the Curtain’: The Significance of Classical Texts in the Sexual Self-Construction of Anne Lister,” in R. Pearson (ed.), The Victorians and the Ancient World: Archeology and Classicism in Nineteenth-Century Culture, Newcastle, 139-151.

Roulston, C. (2021) “Sexuality in Translation: Anne Lister and the Ancients,” Journal of the History of Sexuality 30: 112-135.

Turton, S. (2022) “The Lexicographical Lesbian: Remaking the Body in Anne Lister’s Erotic Glossary,” The Review of English Studies 73: 537-551. [including Greek and Latin vocabulary]

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“As Lord Byron observed in his Don Juan / The Variorum Edition of Martial has, as it were, pointed out to notice the indecent epigrams by classing them altogether at the end of the volume…” (SH:7/ML/EX/6, f. 27; May 1820)

“1 thick 8vo. [octavo], handsomely bound in red morocco, in very good preservation price asked 40 francs — all the obscene epigrams collected together at the end — and a copious vocabulary” (SH:7/ML/E/8/0065; November 11, 1824)

Delphin edition (1701) of Martial purchased by Lister in 1825

Finding Martial

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Using Martial as fodder for sexual knowledge and pleasure

May 5, 1820: Martial 1.90, 9.41, 11.61
August 5, 1820: Juvenal 9; Martial x
August 28, 1820: Ausonius; Martial; Aristotle’s Masterpiece x
March 29, 1821: Theocritus Idyll 5 and Martial
May 19, 1821: Herodotus Book 2 and Martial x
August 10, 1823: Martial’s Philaenis epigrams (7.67, 70) x
July 17, 1824: Martial
May 21, 1824: Harvey, Little Venus unmask’d; Ovid’s Art of Love; Martial x
July 22, 1824: Martial’s epigrams to Lesbia and his wife [leads to sex]
November 11, 1824: Martial and Johannes Secundus x

[x = incurring a cross]

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1. Found a reference to John Donne’s “Sapho to Philaenis” in Retrospective Review

“Though it will not exactly bear quotation, perhaps the most poetical, as well as the most characteristic, of the [i.e. John Donne’s] Epistles is the imaginary one (the only one of that description) from Sappho to Philaenis.” (Retrospective Review 8 (1823) 31-55, at p. 50)

(SH:7/ML/E/7/0051; August 10, 1823)

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2. Consulted Lemprière’s Bibliotheca classica (s.v. Philaenis)

s.v.“Philaenis, or Phileris, a courtesan. Vid. Phileris”
s.v. “Phileris, an immodest woman, whom Philocrates the poet lampooned. Mart. 7”

(SH:7/ML/E/7/0051; August 10, 1823)

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3. Read Martial Book 7: “turned to Martial as referred — this led to my looking over all his epigrams which led to my incurring a cross just before I went downstairs.”

7.67: “Lesbian (tribas) Philaenis sodomizes boys and, more cruel than a husband’s lust, penetrates eleven girls per diem. She also plays with the harpastum high-girt, gets yellow with sand, and with effortless arm rotates weights that would tax an athlete. Muddy from the crumbly wrestling floor, she takes a beating from the blows of an oiled trainer. She does not dine or lie down for dinner before she has vomited six pints of neat wine, to which she thinks she can decently return when she has eaten sixteen collops. When after all this she gets down to sex, she does not suck men (she thinks that not virile enough), but absolutely devours girls’ middles. May the god give you your present mind, Philaenis, who think it virile to lick a cunt.” (trans. Shackleton Bailey)
7.70: “Lesbian (tribas) of the very Lesbians, Philaenis, rightly do you call the girl you fuck your girl-friend.” (trans. Shackleton Bailey)

(SH:7/ML/E/7/0051; August 10, 1823)

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Using Martial as a vehicle for flirtation and seduction

“oh oh thought I, as I went musing along, Miss Hodson is au fait at Martial — her knowingness does not surprise nor yet her opinion of the ladies less elevated than that given by myself” (SH:7/ML/E/8/0017; July 17, 1824)

“looking all over Martial till I felt much excited… [Miss Hodson] would not refuse me anything I chose to ask…” (SH:7/ML/E/8/0017; July 17, 1824)

“I would not not [sic] choose a wife who could read Martial — the idea of Miss Hodson’s having read him seemed to shock me… I did not like her the better for her read-away innocence — who knows what practise she has had — Martial is enough to excite and instruct it is the filthiest and the worst book I ever read, unfit for any especially a woman’s [sic].” (SH:7/ML/E/8/0017; July 17, 1824)

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“If still, my Fuscus, there be void at heart,

Nor others fill the whole, though better part;

If there be still one little spot left bare,

See here, who sues to be the tenant there.

Nor spurn the friend, because the friendship’s new:

As new was once what’s oldest now to you.

But look within. — The heart alone can say,

If love grows old in ages or a day.” [Martial 1.54; trans. Lister]

(SH:7/ML/E/8/0018; July 18, 2024)

“I had once thought about adding [illegible] ‘but you can tell me, Fuscus, what you want to be told’ [Mart. 7.28.10]… but 2nd thoughts convinced me it were better ‘you believe you are protected by such brevity’ [2.1.11]… for Martial is not an author ‘for Germanicus [=Domitian] to read without a blush in the presence of a Cecropian maid’ [5.2.7-8]... and ‘a well-known book cannot change its author’; 1.66].” (SH:7/ML/E/8/0018; July 18, 1824; trans. Shackleton Bailey)

Note: Highlighted parts are in Latin, not English, in Lister’s diary.

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“having abused Miss Hodson for reading Martial by way of proving no woman ought to read it, translated to π- [Mariana] a few of the epigrams to Lesbia [e.g. Mart. 1.34, 2.50, 5.68, 6.23, 10.39, 11.62, 11.99] and to his wife [11.104]… and two or three more” (SH:7/ML/E/8/0020; July 22, 1824)

“when we were both a good deal excited, we jumped into bed leaving one candle burning.” (SH:7/ML/E/8/0020; July 22, 1824)

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Anne Lister & Rousseau

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Jean-Jacques Rousseau

(1712, Geneva – 1778, close to Paris)

writer, philosopher

romanticism & enlightenment

autobiographic «Confessions»
Novel Julie ou la Nouvelle Héloïse

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Rousseau Reception

saw the vaults — the ‘caveaus’ [caveaux] — the vault appropriated to the tombs of Voltaire and�Rousseau not now allowed to be opened — their works cried down, and not allowed to be read — the people read them�more than ever and they are published in all forms (30.9.1826)

During his lifetime: Celebrity marked by huge controversies, exile, ambivalent reception by women writers (like Mme de Staël, Mary Wollstonecraft)

In Lister’s time: connecting link to Byron, ongoing tourism/pilgrimages, acceptable reading material, yet still daring, especially for women (differentiation between his novels and nonfiction)

In research: canonised as enlightenment/romanticism thinker, read for his pedagogical & political interests, queer readings including non-normative sexuality/gender and disability

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Forms of Interaction

a. reading (out loud and quietly)

b. translating

c. memorising

d. quoting

e. going on pilgrimages

Confessions

cannot exactly hit upon the language of Rousseau (...)— yet I almost invariably choose the proper words — all my fault is not putting them well together (29.11.1825)

~ speaking of the loss of Lord Byron’s life of himself I regretted it as a literary curiosity thought�Rousseau’s Confessions one and valuable as ssuch if only published as galley Knight had published a small work did not name but I meant his work on the phallic worship I agreed with Zimmerman the Confessions were a work that had been much mistaken ~ (9.6.1824)

Julie ou la Nouvelle Héloïse

She began to speak of Miss Vigors not quite favourably saying�she was a person who had the nouvelle Heloise [The New Heloise] in her room, and spent her time in reading it — Here I stopt her by saying that was nothing — there was only one volume that was exceptionable — a little too warm — and merely to read that was nothing — (December 1824)

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Points of contact

Sexuality (masturbation, aversion to heterosexual intercourse)

Gender presentation (crossdressing, struggling with traditional gender norms, «deviant masculinity»)

Health (shameful ailments)

Romantic Genius (Nature, Education (self-taught), Introspection, Writing as Self-Discovery)

Gap between hyper-visibility vs. secrecy

‘ I learnt a dangerous supplement that deceives’ Singular character. (excerpt recorded by AL, 14.8.1821)

‘I can't imagine how a girl and a boy manage to sleep together; I thought it took centuries to prepare this terrible arrangement.’ (excerpt recorded by AL, 14.8.1821)

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Lister’s Usage of Rousseau

a. Finding kindred spirits/Flirting

b. Reproach/legitimation for masturbation

c. Comfort

d. Language skills

e. Self-Analysis

a.) Stood musing ~ peeped into some of my books — volume 1. Nouvelle Héloïse. — Mrs. Barlow had read it (23.9.1825)

b.) this was the origin of the mischief I thought my unworthiness afterwards and always lament it just after I read Rousseau’s account of his masturbation in the beginning of his confessions (10.8.1823)

A cross last night soon after getting into bed I had felt a little that way inclined in the afternoon when reading Rousseau but kept it off I don’t know that it was altogether Rousseau that [made] me feel so it might have been the same if I had not been reading him — ’(25.8.1823)

c.) repeating my maxim from Rousseau’s Confessions ~ Un mortel ne peut offenser�mon âme — (31.9.1825)

d.) I will keep to Rousseau to form my French style — How he spoils me for such language as Madame Cottin’s! (6.8.1825)

e.) ‘Je sens mon cœur, et je connois les hommes. Je ne suis fait comme aucun de ceux que j’ai vus; j’ose croire n’etre n’être fait comme aucun de ceux qui existent.’ [‘I know the feelings of my heart, and I know men. I am not made like any of those I have seen; I dare to believe that I am not made like any of those who exist’] (20.8. 1823)

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The Rousseauian Pact��“I will be truthful without reserve (…) How many many insignificant acts, how many revolting, indecent, childish, even ridiculous details will I need to reveal in order to fully explain the development of my character? I blush even to think of the humiliating confessions I will need to make, and I know some readers will consider me impudent; but I must openly admit these things or else conceal them entirely”��Confessiones, original preamble, 1764

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Literature

Kennedy, Rosanne Terese: Rousseau in Drag. Deconstructing Gender. New York, 2012.

Stacey, Jessica: Rousseau’s Toe, in: GLQ. A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies, 2022, 28/3, p. 439-461.

Seidman Trouille, Mary: Sexual Politics in the Enlightenment. Women Writers Read Rousseau. Suny Series, the Margins of Literature, New York, 1997.

Watson, Nicola J.: Fandom mapped: Rousseau, Scott and Byron on the itinerary of Lady Frances Shelley, in: Eric Eisner (ed.), Romantic Fandom, 2011.

Watson, Nicola J.: Rousseau on the Tourist Trail, in: Esterhammer, Angela; Piccitto, Diane and Vincent, Patrick (eds.). Romanticism, Rousseau, Switzerland: New Prospects. Palgrave Studies in the Enlightenment, Romanticism and the Cultures of Print. Houndmills, 2015, p. 84–100.

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Anne Lister & the Marquis de Sade

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The Marquis de Sade

Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade

(2nd June 1740 - 2nd December 1814)

French nobleman, pornographer, philosopher and self-described libertine
Imprisoned repeatedly for sexual crimes, blasphemous behaviour and publishing pornographic literature

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‘Madame de Rosny has the first in two small volumes read a little of it shockingly blasphemous and obscene’ � – 8th January 1828, WYAS (SH:7/ML/E/10/0126)

(1791) of Martial first read by Lister in 1828

Introduced to Justine

Isbergue Thérèse [Hécart] de Rosny d'Adhémar �(1789 - 1872)
Read both solo by Lister and together with de Rosny between 8th Jan - 7th Feb 1828.

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Justine ou Les Malheurs de la Vertu or Justine and the Misfortunes of Virtue

Composed initially when Sade was imprisoned in the Bastille (1787)

Published anonymously in 1791, and received an enthusiastic public response, albeit mixed critical reception (Phillips, 2005, p.85)

More popular with English readers in the early C19th, rather than French audiences (McMorran, 2017, p.p.550).

Key literary response to Justine featured in The Sadeian Woman by Angela Carter (1977).

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Lister’s Reception of de Sade

Privately:

Starts conversations regarding faith with Rosny which alter her perception of the other. �
Incurs crosses specifically thinking about the book on 3 occasions�
Inspires libertinous sexual behaviour with Madame de Rosny (and possibly Sibbella Maclean)

Openly: �

Dishonest about Justine’s effect on her, minimises her response to it. �
Shares that she has read it, but points the finger at Madame de Rosny for introducing her to it.

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Sade, Homosexuality and Morality

‘...she asked if I liked ladies better I said yes from little to more said I loved her but thought not of harm she said if it was the work of nature I was not to blame �mentioned the Marquis de Sade who said some men were so formed they could not enjoy women then were they to blame to do otherwise’

(WYAS, SH:7/ML/E/10/0128, 17 January 1828)

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Literature

Carter, Angela, (1978). The Sadeian Woman: An Exercise in Cultural History. London: Virago Press.

Comerford, Caroline, (2019). Sadism [Marquis de Sade] in The Encyclopedia of Women and Crime, 23 (1-2).

Lister, Anne. Journal of 25 October 1826 to 29 May 1828. Volume 10 - SH:7/ML/E/10. West Yorkshire Archive Service, Calderdale.

Lister, Anne. Journal of 1 Mar 1830 - 31 Dec 1830. Volume 13 - SH:7/ML/E/13. West Yorkshire Archive Service, Calderdale.

McMorran, Will, (2017). The Marquis de Sade in English, 1800–1850. The Modern Language Review, 112(3), 549–566. https://doi.org/10.5699/modelangrevi.112.3.0549

Perrotet, Tony, (2015). Who Was the Marquis de Sade?. Smithsonian Magazine, February 2015. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/who-was-marquis-de-sade-180953980/.

Phillips, John, (2005). The Marquis de Sade: A Very Short Introduction. United Kingdom: OUP Oxford.

Sade, Marquis de, (1791). Justine ou Les Malheurs de la Vertu or The Misfortune of Virtues. Translated by John Phillips, 2012. Oxford: OUP.

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Thanks!

Stay in touch:

Deborah Kamen dkamen@uw.edu

Jann Kraus

jannamkraus@gmail.com

Sarah Wingrove

sarahwingrove.com