cimorene: closeup of a large book held in a woman's hands as she flips through it (reading)
Cimorene ([personal profile] cimorene) wrote2007-04-12 09:41 pm
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Queerness in Georgette Heyer

WowThe twincesty Heyer mystery has now added to its attractions by making the twins' sister a butch lesbian, and their brother, if not gay, really, really metro. o.O

It's queer in a different way from The Masqueraders, which struck me very strongly because of all its genderbending when I reread it recently. (That novel contains two romances, and the protagonists are a brother and sister who both crossdress and weasel into the fashionable London society of the 18th century.)

The lesbians are possibly a little offensive, but then, this was written in the 40s.

Charmian [...] shared a flat with a very feminine blonde, who resembled nothing so much as a pink fondant. The Penhallows had only once been gratified by a sight of this object of their masterful sister's passionate solicitude, Charmian having on one occasion brought her down to spend the weekend at Trevellin. The visit had not been repeated. Leila Morpeth and the Penhallows had not found themselves with anything in common; and the younger Penhallows had been so transfixed with amazement at the spectacle of Charmian hovering protectively over an opulent female of generous proportions, who had a habit of referring to herself as 'poor little me' in accents suggestive of extreme childhood, that they were struck dumb, and mercifully only recovered full power of self-expression when the visitor had departed with Charmian on Monday morning.

(Georgette Heyer, Penhallow, 1942)
ext_30510: What's a slut like you doing in a classy joint like this? (Default)

[identity profile] melle.livejournal.com 2007-04-12 06:56 pm (UTC)(link)
a habit of referring to herself as 'poor little me' in accents suggestive of extreme childhood almost, almost sounds like mommy/daughter ageplay. that book was written in the 1940's? *jaw drop*

[identity profile] cimness.livejournal.com 2007-04-12 08:05 pm (UTC)(link)
Hahahhaha. I think that lesbians and gay men in the polite upper classes were a well-established cliché of this type by the 1940s. I mean, not the sexy roleplaying part, but I'm fairly certain that Heyer didn't mean it as roleplay but more as a Madeleine Bassett a la Jeeves & Wooster sort of thing (females who believe the stars are God's daisy chain/ every time a wee baby blows its nose a fairy is born/ Christopher Robin poetry etc).