Being acted: dramaturgical masochism in Henry James's 'Nona Vincent'. Issue 1 (2nd January 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Jarcho, Julia
• Is Part Of: Textual practice. Volume 35:Issue 1(2021)
• Page Start: 153
• Page End: 170
• Publication Date: 2021-01-02
• Subjects: Henry James -- masochism -- Freud -- theatre -- 'Nona Vincent' -- Ibsen -- Elizabeth Robins; Literature, Modern -- 20th century -- History and criticism -- Periodicals; Criticism -- Periodicals; Criticism, Textual -- Periodicals; Semiotics -- Periodicals; 801.95
• DOI: 10.1080/0950236X.2020.1811754
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0950-236X

Abstract

ABSTRACT: This article offers a new account of masochism, retheorising it in terms of both gender and artistic practice through a reading of Henry James's 'Nona Vincent' (1892). In this story, theatre structures a mode of pleasure that explodes the gendered division of artistic labour whereby women inspire and men 'do'. This feminising fantasy of authorship responds to the scandals spawned by performances of Ibsen's 'women's plays' in London.