Neo-Victorian Madness : Rediagnosing Nineteenth-Century Mental Illness in Literature and Other Media

__Neo-Victorian Madness: Rediagnosing Nineteenth-Century Mental Illness in Literature and Other Media__ investigates contemporary fiction, cinema and television shows set in the Victorian period that depict mad murderers, lunatic doctors, social dis/ease and madhouses as if many Victorians were “mad.” Such portraits demand a “rediagnosing” of mental illness that was often reduced to only female hysteria or a general malaise in nineteenth-century renditions. This collection of essays explores questions of neo-Victorian representations of moral insanity, mental illness, disturbed psyches or non-normative imaginings as well as considers the important issues of legal righteousness, social responsibility or methods of restraint and corrupt incarcerations. The chapters investigate the self-conscious re-visions, legacies and lessons of nineteenth-century discourses of madness and/or those persons presumed mad rediagnosed by present-day (neo-Victorian) representations informed by post-nineteenth-century psychological insights. Acknowledgements 5 Contents 7 Notes on Contributors 10 List of Figures 13 1 Introduction: Neo-Victorian Maladies of the Mind 14 Bibliography 33 2 “I Am Not an Angel”: Madness and Addiction in Neo-Victorian Appropriations of Jane Eyre 39 Bibliography 58 3 “We Should Go Mad”: The Madwoman and Her Nurse 61 Bibliography 81 4 The Daughters of Bertha Mason: Caribbean Madwomen in Laura Fish’s Strange Music 85 To Be Guilty Is to Be Mad—Elizabeth 90 Like Mother Like Daughter—Kaydia 96 Not Your Negro—Sheba 101 Bibliography 105 5 “A Necessary Madness”: PTSD in Mary Balogh’s Survivors’ Club Novels 108 Book 1: The Proposal (2012) 114 Books 2 and 3: The Suitor (2013b) and The Arrangement (2013a) 118 Books 4 and 5: Escape (2014a) and Only Enchanting (2014b) 121 Book 6: Only a Promise (2015a) 122 Book 7: Only a Kiss (2015b) 124 Book 8: Only Beloved (2016) 126 Bibliography 128 6 Unreliable Neo-Victorian Narrators, “Unwomen,” and Femmes Fatales: Nell Leyshon’s The Colour of Milk and Jane Harris’ Gillespie and I 132 Bibliography 152 7 “Dear Holy Sister”: Narrating Madness, Bodily Horror and Religious Ecstasy in Michel Faber’s The Crimson Petal and the White 156 Houses in Order and “Playing with Dolls”: The Non-maturation of Agnes Rackham 159 Dear Holy Sister: Divine Eroticism and Shared Identities 163 Retracing the Narratives of Madness: The Journals of Agnes Rackham 165 The Woman in White and the Singularity of Vision 169 Bibliography 174 8 The Unmentionable Madness of Being a Woman and Ripper Street 177 Puberty and Menarche 182 Sexual Desire and Nymphomania 184 Childbirth, Puerperal and Lactational Insanity 187 Menopause and Old Maids 188 Mad Women 189 Neo-Victorian Revisions of Female Sexuality 189 Sexual Desire, Nymphomania and Slumming 192 Questionable Pregnancy and Deathly Childbirth 194 Puberty and/as Trauma for Girlchildren 199 Lost/Found Children and Postpartum Despair 200 Threats, Menopause, Grief and Old Maids 201 Woman’s Unmentionable Madness(es) 203 Bibliography 207 9 Queering the Madwoman: A Mad/Queer Narrative in Margaret Atwood’s Alias Grace and Its Adaptation 213 Queerness as Non-normativity and the Madwoman 216 Grace Marks: A Victorian Hysteric 222 A Madwoman’s Queer Identity and Narrative 226 Conclusion: Being Queered by the Madwoman 233 Bibliography 235 10 Old Monsters, Old Curses: The New Hysterical Woman and Penny Dreadful 238 An Old Monster 238 Diagnosing Hysteria 240 Fragile Male Superegos 246 A New Hysterical Woman 250 An Old Curse 255 Bibliography 257 11 The Glamorisation of Mental Illness in BBC’s Sherlock 261 Bibliography 284 12 Gendered (De)Illusions: Imaginative Madness in Neo-Victorian Childhood Trauma Narratives 288 Bibliography 307 Index 310 Front Matter ....Pages i-xv Introduction: Neo-Victorian Maladies of the Mind (Brenda Ayres, Sarah E. Maier)....Pages 1-25 “I Am Not an Angel”: Madness and Addiction in Neo-Victorian Appropriations of Jane Eyre (Kate Faber Oestreich)....Pages 27-48 “We Should Go Mad”: The Madwoman and Her Nurse (Rachel M. Friars, Brenda Ayres)....Pages 49-72 The Daughters of Bertha Mason: Caribbean Madwomen in Laura Fish’s Strange Music (Olivia Tjon-A-Meeuw)....Pages 73-95 “A Necessary Madness”: PTSD in Mary Balogh’s Survivors’ Club Novels (Brenda Ayres)....Pages 97-120 Unreliable Neo-Victorian Narrators, “Unwomen,” and Femmes Fatales: Nell Leyshon’s The Colour of Milk and Jane Harris’ Gillespie and I (Eckart Voigts)....Pages 121-144 “Dear Holy Sister”: Narrating Madness, Bodily Horror and Religious Ecstasy in Michel Faber’s The Crimson Petal and the White (Marshall Needleman Armintor)....Pages 145-165 The Unmentionable Madness of Being a Woman and Ripper Street (Brenda Ayres, Sarah E. Maier)....Pages 167-202 Queering the Madwoman: A Mad/Queer Narrative in Margaret Atwood’s Alias Grace and Its Adaptation (Barbara Braid)....Pages 203-227 Old Monsters, Old Curses: The New Hysterical Woman and Penny Dreadful (Tim Posada)....Pages 229-251 The Glamorisation of Mental Illness in BBC’s Sherlock (John C. Murray)....Pages 253-279 Gendered (De)Illusions: Imaginative Madness in Neo-Victorian Childhood Trauma Narratives (Sarah E. Maier)....Pages 281-302 Back Matter ....Pages 303-308