Misreading Anita Brookner: Aestheticism, Intertextuality and the Queer Nineteenth Century

Misreading Anita Brookner challenges the conventional understanding of Anita Brookner's novels by proposing that her solitary twentieth-century women can be interpreted as variations of queer nineteenth-century male artist archetypes. It suggests that Brookner's characters are a subversive blend of historical, contemporary, masculine, and feminine elements, highlighting new depths within her outsider introverts.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 288 pages
Publication date: 01 September 2022
Publisher: Liverpool University Press

Misreading Anita Brookner: Unlocking the Mysteries of the Depressed Brookner Heroine

Anita Brookner, renowned for her writings on lonely and single women, has long captivated readers with her portrayal of these characters. However, a deeper exploration of her works reveals a more complex and intriguing dimension. In Misreading Anita Brookner, author Renée Vivien offers a fresh perspective on Brookner's heroines by employing innovative approaches to reading six of her novels.

Drawing upon Brookner's expertise as a historian of French Romantic art and a wide range of intertextual sources, including Charles Baudelaire, Henry James, Renée Vivien, and Freud, Vivien argues that Brookner's solitary twentieth-century women can be interpreted as variations of queer nineteenth-century male artist archetypes. By conjuring a cast of Romantic personae, such as the flâneur, dandy, aesthete, military man, queer, analysand, degenerate, and storyteller, Vivien uncovers clusters of nineteenth-century behaviors that shed light on the lives of Brookner's twentieth-century women.

This exploration of Brookner's "performative Romanticism" unveils new depths within her outsider introverts, revealing them as a subversive blend of historical, contemporary, masculine, and feminine elements. Through meticulous analysis and thoughtful interpretation, Vivien offers a fresh understanding of Brookner's characters, challenging traditional readings and revealing their complex inner worlds.

Misreading Anita Brookner is a valuable contribution to the study of literature and gender, offering a fresh perspective on the works of a celebrated author. It encourages readers to reevaluate their assumptions about Brookner's heroines and to explore the rich tapestry of her narratives in new and exciting ways.

Dimension: 234 x 156 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781802077001