University Of Birmingham

Post-Doc, English

PhD candidate and seminar tutor

Thesis Title: The Lesbian Muse: Homoeroticism, Female Poetic Identity and Contemporary Muse Figures (1889-1930)

About

Details of first monograph, The Lesbian Muse and Poetic Identity, 1889-1930, now online at: http://www.pickeringchatto.com/monographs/lesbian_muse_and_poetic_identity_1889_1930_the


***

My thesis focuses on the role of the muse in the poetry of Michael Field, Olive Custance, Amy Lowell, Bryher and H.D. This research project represents the first full-length study of the muse in lesbian literature. I seek to demonstrate that the gendered artist/muse dynamic (traditionally the relationship between a male creator and a female muse) is key to understanding the complexities of nineteenth- and twentieth-century women's poetry.

Through focussing on contemporary living figures as muses, I explore the issues raised when one woman objectifies another (or indeed, in several cases, objectifies a man, creating a male muse), arguing that the concept of the muse undergoes a number of significant changes during the fin de siecle, putting it at the centre of our understandings of late-Victorian and early twentieth century genders, sexualities and poetics.

Contact Information