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The lures of neo-Victorianism presentism (with a feminist case study of Penny Dreadful)

Marie-luise Kohlke Orcid Logo

Literature Compass, Volume: 15, Issue: 7, Start page: e12463

Swansea University Author: Marie-luise Kohlke Orcid Logo

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DOI (Published version): 10.1111/lic3.12463

Abstract

This article explores neo-Victorian presentism, its contradictory liberal and reactionary sexual-textual politics, and the mixed messages that result from its appeal to diverse audiences as part of its active engagement with popular culture. An overview of the presentist debate and its relation to n...

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Published in: Literature Compass
ISSN: 17414113
Published: 2018
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa30720
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first_indexed 2018-06-18T13:12:49Z
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spelling 2020-06-25T12:00:45.1391422 v2 30720 2016-10-20 The lures of neo-Victorianism presentism (with a feminist case study of Penny Dreadful) 789e6b628cdc4d0fc1c66eff6654c610 0000-0003-1475-7218 Marie-luise Kohlke Marie-luise Kohlke true false 2016-10-20 AELC This article explores neo-Victorian presentism, its contradictory liberal and reactionary sexual-textual politics, and the mixed messages that result from its appeal to diverse audiences as part of its active engagement with popular culture. An overview of the presentist debate and its relation to neo-Victorian practice and criticism is followed by a case study of Season Three of Showtime/Sky’s Penny Dreadful (2014–2016) series, created by John Logan, focusing on the plotline involving the resurrected prostitute Brona Croft/Lily and her lovers, Dr Victor Frankenstein and Dorian Gray. Brona/Lily’s recruitment of Victorian London’s exploited streetwalkers to wage a crusade against the city’s abusive punters is read as a parody of the twentieth- and twenty-first-century Take Back the Night campaigns, radically undermining the series’ apparent initial commitment to feminist politics and manipulating reader response via surreptitious historical distortion. Introducing the notion of ‘antithetical critical presentism’, the article argues that the complex operations of Penny Dreadful’s historical self-consciousness suggest that we need to conceptualize and complicate our notions of one of neo-Victorianism’s defining features. Journal Article Literature Compass 15 7 e12463 17414113 ‘antithetical critical presentism’, feminism, historical distortion, misogyny, neo-Victorianism, paedophilia, Penny Dreadful, presentism, sexuality, Take Back the Night. 2 5 2018 2018-05-02 10.1111/lic3.12463 COLLEGE NANME English Literature COLLEGE CODE AELC Swansea University 2020-06-25T12:00:45.1391422 2016-10-20T09:05:54.8927289 Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences School of Culture and Communication - English Language, Tesol, Applied Linguistics Marie-luise Kohlke 0000-0003-1475-7218 1 30720__4037__ac16d8cfc515472f866acb347befa5fe.pdf MLKohlkeNeo-VictorianPresentism.docx 2016-10-20T09:09:30.4570000 Output 103494 application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document Accepted Manuscript true 2016-10-20T00:00:00.0000000 true
title The lures of neo-Victorianism presentism (with a feminist case study of Penny Dreadful)
spellingShingle The lures of neo-Victorianism presentism (with a feminist case study of Penny Dreadful)
Marie-luise Kohlke
title_short The lures of neo-Victorianism presentism (with a feminist case study of Penny Dreadful)
title_full The lures of neo-Victorianism presentism (with a feminist case study of Penny Dreadful)
title_fullStr The lures of neo-Victorianism presentism (with a feminist case study of Penny Dreadful)
title_full_unstemmed The lures of neo-Victorianism presentism (with a feminist case study of Penny Dreadful)
title_sort The lures of neo-Victorianism presentism (with a feminist case study of Penny Dreadful)
author_id_str_mv 789e6b628cdc4d0fc1c66eff6654c610
author_id_fullname_str_mv 789e6b628cdc4d0fc1c66eff6654c610_***_Marie-luise Kohlke
author Marie-luise Kohlke
author2 Marie-luise Kohlke
format Journal article
container_title Literature Compass
container_volume 15
container_issue 7
container_start_page e12463
publishDate 2018
institution Swansea University
issn 17414113
doi_str_mv 10.1111/lic3.12463
college_str Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
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hierarchy_top_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
department_str School of Culture and Communication - English Language, Tesol, Applied Linguistics{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences{{{_:::_}}}School of Culture and Communication - English Language, Tesol, Applied Linguistics
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description This article explores neo-Victorian presentism, its contradictory liberal and reactionary sexual-textual politics, and the mixed messages that result from its appeal to diverse audiences as part of its active engagement with popular culture. An overview of the presentist debate and its relation to neo-Victorian practice and criticism is followed by a case study of Season Three of Showtime/Sky’s Penny Dreadful (2014–2016) series, created by John Logan, focusing on the plotline involving the resurrected prostitute Brona Croft/Lily and her lovers, Dr Victor Frankenstein and Dorian Gray. Brona/Lily’s recruitment of Victorian London’s exploited streetwalkers to wage a crusade against the city’s abusive punters is read as a parody of the twentieth- and twenty-first-century Take Back the Night campaigns, radically undermining the series’ apparent initial commitment to feminist politics and manipulating reader response via surreptitious historical distortion. Introducing the notion of ‘antithetical critical presentism’, the article argues that the complex operations of Penny Dreadful’s historical self-consciousness suggest that we need to conceptualize and complicate our notions of one of neo-Victorianism’s defining features.
published_date 2018-05-02T03:37:24Z
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score 11.035634

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