'His Eyes Commanded Me to Come to Him': Desire and Mesmerism in Rhoda Broughton's 'The Man with the Nose'
Document Type
Book Chapter
Publication Date
2020
Abstract
This chapter examines Rhoda Broughton’s short story ‘The Man with the Nose’ (1872) from Twilight Stories (1879), focusing on representations of anxiety surrounding female sexuality. Published during the Victorian period, when female sexual desire was rarely given voice in realist fiction, Broughton’s stories reveal both desire and fear surrounding women’s sexuality. This chapter argues that both the genre of speculative fiction and the story’s concentration on mesmerism opened up the space for Broughton to explore female desire years before New Women writers’ frank portrayals during the fin de siècle.
ISBN
9783030385279
Publication Title
British Women's Writing from Bronte to Bloomsbury, Volume 2: 1860s and 1870s
Recommended Citation
Purdue, M. (2020). 'His eyes commanded me to come to him': Desire and mesmerism in Rhoda Broughton's 'The Man with the Nose.' In A. Gavin & C. W. de la L. Oulton (Eds.), British Women's Writing from Bronte to Bloomsbury, volume 2: 1860s and 1870s, (pp. 183-193). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-38528-6
DOI
10.1007/978-3-030-38528-6
Link to Publisher Version (DOI)
Publisher's Copyright and Source
Copyright © 2020 Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
