Afterlives of the Lady of Shalott and Elaine of Astolat

This book investigates adaptations of The Lady of Shalott and Elaine of Astolat in Victorian and post-Victorian popular culture to explore their engagement with medievalism, social constructions of gender, and representations of the role of art in society. Although the figure of Elaine first appeared in medieval texts, including Malory’s __Le Morte Darthur__, Tennyson’s poems about the Lady and Elaine drew unprecedented response from musicians, artists, and other authors, whose adaptations in some cases inspired further adaptations. With chapters on music, art, and literature (including parody, young people’s literature, and historical fiction and fantasy), this book seeks to trace the evolution of these characters and the ways in which they reinforce or challenge conventional gender roles, represent the present’s relationship to the past, and highlight the power of art. Acknowledgments 7 Praise for Afterlives of the Lady of Shalott and Elaine of Astolat 9 Contents 10 Abbreviations and Spellings 13 List of Figures 15 List of Tables 16 1 Introduction 17 1.1 The Topic 17 1.2 Death and the Maiden 19 1.3 King Arthur Returns 24 1.4 Medievalism(s), Neomedievalism 27 1.5 Adaptation and Allusion 30 1.6 Texts and Trends 34 1.7 Afterlives 57 References 62 2 The Lady and Elaine: Medieval Literature and Victorian Adaptation 67 2.1 Introduction 67 2.2 Before Tennyson 68 2.3 Tennyson’s Lady, Tennyson’s Elaine 80 2.4 Responses 93 References 100 3 Singing Her Own Song: The Lady/Elaine in Music 107 3.1 Introduction 107 3.2 The Lady and Elaine in Music 111 3.3 Nineteenth-Century Music: Material Conditions and Interpretations 114 3.3.1 Sweet Is True Love 119 3.4 Twentieth-Century Music: Material Conditions and Interpretations 124 3.4.1 Adapting the Lady to Music 126 3.4.2 Speaking for Her Own Self 127 3.5 The Power of the Voice 135 References 138 4 “She Hath a Lovely Face”: The Lady/Elaine in Art 144 4.1 Introduction 144 4.2 The Victorian Context 145 4.3 “Who Hath Seen Her ...?” 148 4.4 Book Illustrations 152 4.4.1 Doré 154 4.4.2 Cameron 156 4.4.3 Rhead 162 4.5 Paintings 167 4.5.1 Rosenthal’s Elaine (1874) 168 4.5.2 Hunt’s Lady 172 4.5.3 Waterhouse’s Ladies (1888, 1894, 1915) 175 4.6 “Out Flew the Web ...”: The Lady/Elaine Online 178 4.7 Another Kind of Lady 180 4.8 The Power of the Image 182 References 190 5 Patterns and Parody: The Lady/Elaine in Literature 198 5.1 Introduction 198 5.2 Patterns 198 5.2.1 Conflation of Lady/Elaine 199 5.2.2 Non-Arthurian Intertexts 202 5.2.3 Strategies of Adaptation 204 5.2.4 Images: Tower (Entrapment and Isolation) 209 5.2.5 Images: Mirror (Reality and Self) 212 5.2.6 Images: Weaving/Embroidery (Creativity and Art) 213 5.2.7 Images: Lancelot (Life-Altering Desire, Loss, and Rejection) 216 5.2.8 Images: Curse and Boat (Inevitability of Fate/Doom) 219 5.3 Parody 221 5.3.1 The Lady on South Street 229 5.3.2 Floating Down to Cambridge 235 5.4 Conclusion 238 References 244 6 Reading and Resisting: The Lady/Elaine in Young People’s Literature 250 6.1 Introduction 250 6.2 Retelling the Story 252 6.3 Responding to the Story 259 6.4 Richardson’s Heroic Lily Maid 261 6.5 Montgomery’s Unfortunate Lily Maid 265 6.6 Pulman’s Virtual Lady 270 6.7 Cabot’s Anti-Elaine 276 6.8 Conclusion 282 References 286 7 Desire and Art: The Lady/Elaine in Historical Fiction and Fantasy 290 7.1 Introduction 290 7.2 A Woman’s Place 292 7.3 Romancing Elaine 299 7.4 Changing the Material 304 7.5 Rewriting the Knight and Empowering the Lady 307 7.6 Conclusion 317 References 321 8 Postscript 323 References 329 Index 331