Abstract
The article focuses on two examples of female lives re-imagined as queer in screen biofiction: Daphne (Beavan, 2007) about Daphne de Maurier, and Shirley (Decker, 2020) about Shirley Jackson. These films are analysed as literary biofictions, that is, fictional revisions of biographies in which the protagonists share names and biographemes with well-known writers. The factuality of these biographemes is less significant in biofiction than the imaginary components that aim to reveal secrets, revise myths, or depict a relatable version of the characters and their lives. Thus, biofictions often offer a cultural commentary that is more relevant to the contemporary context than the historical one. The article focuses, first, on biographemes used as authenticating strategies and, then, examines the implications of the ways in which queer femininity is depicted in both mentioned screen biofictions, and how these renditions position themselves in connection to the stereotype of the age gap dynamics in lesbians’ relationships.
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Notes
Note that Kaplan and Nünning do not use the term “biofiction” in their studies; the former refers to the phenomenon of biofictional revision in neo-Victorian literature as “biographilia” (2007, p. 47), while the latter discusses a range of texts under the umbrella of “fictional metabiographies” (2005, pp. 201–202). Yet, the way they define those genres bears strong similarity to how biofiction is defined today.
For a more detailed discussion of recent biofictions of Emily Dickinson as a queer historical figure, see an upcoming article: Braid, B. and Gutowska, A. Queer heritage and strategic humour in recent screen biofictions of Emily Dickinson; to be published in Neo-Victorian Studies.
I refer here, of course, to the sexology discourse that introduced the discussion of sexual identities in late 19th century and is perceived by Michel Foucault as the beginning of a modern concept of homosexuality as an identity (and, by extension, heterosexuality and other types of sexual identities) (Foucault 1978). On the necessity of an anachronistic approach to lesbianism, see for instance: Giffney, Sauer, and Watt (2011) and Traub (2015).
Two biofictional novels about Mary Anning—Tracy Chevalier’s Remarkable Creatures (2009) and Joan Thomas’s Curiosity (2010)—both propose a heterosexual romance that Anning was involved with, although no historical record indicates her romantic interests, except for a handful of rumours linking her to Colonel Birch or Henry De la Beche (Torrens 1995, p. 279).
As Daphne was released in 2007, it might be argued that now, more than a decade later, the reaction of critics, audiences, and descendants is less indignant; however, as Barbara Anning’s reaction to Ammonite (Singh 2019) indicates, it is still a thorny issue for famous personages’ estate to be depicted in cultural memory as queer.
This association of Ellen Doubleday with Rebecca is also indicated by Forster’ biography; the nickname “the Rebecca of Barberrys” was given to her by Daphne du Maurier herself (Forster 2007, p. 223).
Critics have noted similarities to Who’s afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966), directed by Mike Nichols and based on Edward Albee’s play (1962) (Feeney 2020, p. 38; LitCreator.org 2020).
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Braid, B. Queering the female writer in screen biofictions: Daphne (2007) and Shirley (2020). Neohelicon (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11059-024-00729-w
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11059-024-00729-w