“Great Resolve Comes Flashing Thro’ the Gloom”: Julia Margaret Cameron’s Writings and Photographic Legacy Illuminate a Resilient Vision of Victorian Women
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2010
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ndltd-OhioLink-oai-etd.ohiolink.edu-ohiou12731543772021-08-03T05:46:29Z “Great Resolve Comes Flashing Thro’ the Gloom”: Julia Margaret Cameron’s Writings and Photographic Legacy Illuminate a Resilient Vision of Victorian Women Parlin, Melissa J. Literature Julia Margaret Cameron PreRaphaelites Shakespeare Arthurian Legend <p>Cameron scholars have identified Victorian photographer Julia Margaret Cameron as a poet, but her writings have received surprisingly little attention. I assert that Cameron’s writings are a crucial part of literary and photographic history because they provide a multi-faceted vision of women as strong autonomous figures who also revere their roles as daughters, wives and mothers. Using twentieth and twenty-first century art-historical and feminist theory, I reflect on the ways Cameron’s literary and photographic works resisted the influence of “the Victorian Cult of the Dead,” the portrayal of women as objects for “the male gaze,” and the stereotype of “the femme fatale.” After placing her writings and photographs in dialogue with each other, I show that Cameron used her creative endeavors to dispute a restrictive gender ideology that portrayed women as idealized objects and codependent victims, and that Cameron instead depicted women as maintaining their resolution through their hardships, or their “gloom.” </p><p>In contrast to nineteenth-century social norms that dictated the submission and domestication of Victorian women, Cameron photographically refashioned women from male-authored texts into more complex figures of femininity that balanced resilience and independence with their roles as daughters, wives, and mothers. When Cameron began her photographic career, she was fully aware of the ongoing debate regarding photography’s status and strove to make photographs that would be considered art. Cameron incorporated the painterly style of symbolic narrative allegory to intervene in the male-dominated traditions of the PreRaphaelite Brotherhood, Arthurian Legend via Lord Alfred Tennyson, Shakespearean tradition and Biblical tradition photographically refashioning female characters from male-authored texts into active, self-sufficient women.</p><p>Cameron communicated her perception of women through the real-life convergence of her identities as mother, wife, and artist as well as through her artistic contributions. Her correspondence and literary works reflect a life of familial and religious devotion, daring independence, and fierce self-promotion. Using other notable nineteenth-century women, including Florence Nightingale and Christina Rossetti for comparison, I assert that Cameron was part of a distinguished group of women whose lives called into question the traditional paradigm of the separate male and female spheres. Cameron pushed against limiting gender boundaries and maintained a traditionally feminine identity as mother and wife while simultaneously asserting her autonomy as an artist. My analysis of Cameron’s writings provides a more complete picture of her innovative photographic contributions and her multiple identities as a Victorian woman and artist.</p> 2010-07-30 English text Ohio University / OhioLINK http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1273154377 http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1273154377 unrestricted This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: all rights reserved. It may not be copied or redistributed beyond the terms of applicable copyright laws. |
| collection |
NDLTD |
| language |
English |
| sources |
NDLTD |
| topic |
Literature Julia Margaret Cameron PreRaphaelites Shakespeare Arthurian Legend |
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Literature Julia Margaret Cameron PreRaphaelites Shakespeare Arthurian Legend Parlin, Melissa J. “Great Resolve Comes Flashing Thro’ the Gloom”: Julia Margaret Cameron’s Writings and Photographic Legacy Illuminate a Resilient Vision of Victorian Women |
| author |
Parlin, Melissa J. |
| author_facet |
Parlin, Melissa J. |
| author_sort |
Parlin, Melissa J. |
| title |
“Great Resolve Comes Flashing Thro’ the Gloom”: Julia Margaret Cameron’s Writings and Photographic Legacy Illuminate a Resilient Vision of Victorian Women |
| title_short |
“Great Resolve Comes Flashing Thro’ the Gloom”: Julia Margaret Cameron’s Writings and Photographic Legacy Illuminate a Resilient Vision of Victorian Women |
| title_full |
“Great Resolve Comes Flashing Thro’ the Gloom”: Julia Margaret Cameron’s Writings and Photographic Legacy Illuminate a Resilient Vision of Victorian Women |
| title_fullStr |
“Great Resolve Comes Flashing Thro’ the Gloom”: Julia Margaret Cameron’s Writings and Photographic Legacy Illuminate a Resilient Vision of Victorian Women |
| title_full_unstemmed |
“Great Resolve Comes Flashing Thro’ the Gloom”: Julia Margaret Cameron’s Writings and Photographic Legacy Illuminate a Resilient Vision of Victorian Women |
| title_sort |
“great resolve comes flashing thro’ the gloom”: julia margaret cameron’s writings and photographic legacy illuminate a resilient vision of victorian women |
| publisher |
Ohio University / OhioLINK |
| publishDate |
2010 |
| url |
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1273154377 |
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