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A review by richardr
The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister by Anne Lister
(This covers both editions of Anne Lister's diaries.)
One of the oddities about reading Anne Lister is gaining an insight into someone who created an identity entirely sui generis and how that is to be compared to how we see sexuality and gender now. That identity is certainly striking, amounting to a frank declaration that Lister only loved women and that the thought of sexual attraction to men was repulsive to her. If her sexuality is clear enough, her gender is perhaps less so. A plaque placed at a church where she and Ann Walker had pledged themselves to each other drew criticism for calling her 'gender non-conforming'and omitting the word 'lesbian' but there's no real way to be certain whuch description is more accurate. Lister certainly presented as masculine (with one lover being uncomfortable with the presence of a moustache) while Frued would have relished statements like 'If I had a penis, tho’ of but small length, I should surely break the ice some of these times.' This comes up on multiple occasions as when she is 'Thinking of Mrs Milne. Fancying I had a penis & was intriguing with her in the downstairs water-closet at Langton before breakfast, to which she would have made no objection.' Earlier she contemplates 'Supposing myself in men’s clothes & having a penis, tho’ nothing more.' The converse is also true, that she had an aversion to 'anything that reminded me of my petticoats.'
The pictures continues to be complex when one considers the social and political context. Lister was a landowner and accordingly held distinctly conservative views at a time when rioting and dissent were far from uncommon in Yorkshire. As well as being opposed to reform, she can equally be something of a prude, writing that a theatrical performance was 'beyond anything I could have imagined it possible to bring forward on the stage, particularly the Thèâtre Français. Certainly not a scene for English ladies.' A modern reader can't help but find it odd that a conversation between Lister and one of the Ladies of Llangollen consisted of decrying Lucretius on the grounds that 'He was a deistical writer... she knew he was heterodox. I observed that she might think all the classics objectionable.' The most striking comment is her denunciation of a man on the grounds that 'To me his voice is so feminine as to be distressing – the more striking because his appearance is not [at] all so.' The sole concession to liberalism in the diaries is an endorsement of the view that girls could be educated to the same capacity as boys, especially given that somuch of the diaries consist of Lister's autodidactism. Quite frequently she sees her relationships as essentially that of man and wife (although if this is how Maria Barlow saw it she was nonetheless relegated to the role of mistress). As such, Lister writes 'In plain English, she was too much like a mistress. She was not my wife.... On returning up the new bank, a man said, ‘Are them man & wife?’ Marianna & I both coloured but she laughed & said she did not mind it, nor do I think she did.'
One of the oddities about reading Anne Lister is gaining an insight into someone who created an identity entirely sui generis and how that is to be compared to how we see sexuality and gender now. That identity is certainly striking, amounting to a frank declaration that Lister only loved women and that the thought of sexual attraction to men was repulsive to her. If her sexuality is clear enough, her gender is perhaps less so. A plaque placed at a church where she and Ann Walker had pledged themselves to each other drew criticism for calling her 'gender non-conforming'and omitting the word 'lesbian' but there's no real way to be certain whuch description is more accurate. Lister certainly presented as masculine (with one lover being uncomfortable with the presence of a moustache) while Frued would have relished statements like 'If I had a penis, tho’ of but small length, I should surely break the ice some of these times.' This comes up on multiple occasions as when she is 'Thinking of Mrs Milne. Fancying I had a penis & was intriguing with her in the downstairs water-closet at Langton before breakfast, to which she would have made no objection.' Earlier she contemplates 'Supposing myself in men’s clothes & having a penis, tho’ nothing more.' The converse is also true, that she had an aversion to 'anything that reminded me of my petticoats.'
The pictures continues to be complex when one considers the social and political context. Lister was a landowner and accordingly held distinctly conservative views at a time when rioting and dissent were far from uncommon in Yorkshire. As well as being opposed to reform, she can equally be something of a prude, writing that a theatrical performance was 'beyond anything I could have imagined it possible to bring forward on the stage, particularly the Thèâtre Français. Certainly not a scene for English ladies.' A modern reader can't help but find it odd that a conversation between Lister and one of the Ladies of Llangollen consisted of decrying Lucretius on the grounds that 'He was a deistical writer... she knew he was heterodox. I observed that she might think all the classics objectionable.' The most striking comment is her denunciation of a man on the grounds that 'To me his voice is so feminine as to be distressing – the more striking because his appearance is not [at] all so.' The sole concession to liberalism in the diaries is an endorsement of the view that girls could be educated to the same capacity as boys, especially given that somuch of the diaries consist of Lister's autodidactism. Quite frequently she sees her relationships as essentially that of man and wife (although if this is how Maria Barlow saw it she was nonetheless relegated to the role of mistress). As such, Lister writes 'In plain English, she was too much like a mistress. She was not my wife.... On returning up the new bank, a man said, ‘Are them man & wife?’ Marianna & I both coloured but she laughed & said she did not mind it, nor do I think she did.'