Sleeping Beauties in Victorian Britain Cultural, Literary and Artistic Explorations of a Myth (Cultural Interactions Studies

Sleeping Beauties in Victorian Britain: Cultural, Literary and Artistic Explorations of a Myth (Cultural Interactions: Studies in the Relationship between the Arts) By Beatrice Laurent (editor)
2014 | 244 Pages | ISBN: 303431745X | PDF | 2 MB
Artists, scientists and the wider public of the Victorian era all seem to have shared a common interest in the myth of the Briar Rose and its contemporary implications, from the Pre-Raphaelites and late Victorian aesthetes to the fascinated crowds who visited Ellen Sadler, the real-life ‘Sleeping Maid’ who is reported to have slept from 1871 to 1880. The figure of the beautiful reclining female sleeper is a recurring theme in the Victorian imagination, invoking visual, literary and erotic connotations that contribute to a complex range of readings involving aesthetics, gender definitions and contemporary medical opinion. This book compiles and examines a corpus of Sleeping Beauties drawn from Victorian medical reports, literature and the arts and explores the significance of the enduring revival of the myth.