Inseparable: Desire Between Women in Literature [Paperback]

Emma Donoghue (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 6, 2011

Emma Donoghue examines how desire between women in English literature has been portrayed, from schoolgirls and vampires to runaway wives, from cross-dressing knights to contemporary murder stories. She looks at the work of those writers who have addressed the "unspeakable subject," examining whether same-sex desire is freakish or omnipresent, holy or evil, as she excavates a long-obscured tradition of (inseparable) friendship between women, one that is surprisingly central to our cultural history. Donoghue explores the writing of Sade, Balzac, Hardy, Wilkie, Sayers, Highsmith and more to reveal the half-dozen contrasting girl-girl plots that have been told and retold over the centuries; the paranormal identities assigned to women who desire other women; the ubiquity of same-sex attraction in crime fiction; and the contemporary narratives of coming out privately and publicly. Inseparable is a revelation of a centuries-old literary tradition — brilliant, amusing, and until now, deliberately overlooked.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Questions for Emma Donoghue on Inseparable

Q: What inspired you to write Inseparable? Did you feel there was something important missing from the existing scholarly work?
A: Back in the mid-90s I was approached by a university press to write a history of lesbian literature. Although I was attracted to the idea of a book that would have a really long historical and geographical range, I didn’t want it to trawl dutifully and descriptively through the entire body of texts both by and about women-who-loved-women. That deal fell through, so what I ended up writing was much more for my own pleasure: a sort of travel guide that would identify and analyze the handful of underlying plot motifs about desire between women. As I worked on Inseparable for a decade and a half, more and more academic studies were published on specific periods and genres--sometimes on just a couple of texts. While I drew on much of this excellent scholarship, it also confirmed my hunch that both academic specialists and 'common readers' could do with a guide to this literary tradition in all its length, breadth and flavor.

Q: You describe Inseparable as a sort of map and each chapter a new "terrain." What discoveries led you to choose the path you did for the book?
A: Some of the tracks were clear from the start: I always knew there would be at least one chapter on cross-dressing, because it's been perhaps the dominant way for writers over the centuries to tell stories about how same-sex desire might 'accidentally' occur. Others were more of a surprise to me; I knew that lesbian detective fiction as a distinct genre was born in the 1990s, but I found much earlier detection stories (in large numbers from the 1920s on) that hinged on the discovery of desire between women, so that became a chapter of its own.

Q: Most of the writers you cite are men. Did this influence your reading of the texts in any way?
A: I don’t think it affected how I read the texts, but perhaps it shaped my decision, early on, to concentrate on the texts themselves rather than their autobiographical elements. I found it peculiarly liberating to approach each novel, play, or narrative poem without much caring who wrote it--to look at both trash and high literature in terms of story, and discover all sorts of connections between different texts that borrowed and reworked the same stories.

Q: Although you write that conclusions about real life shouldn't necessarily be drawn from these tales, are there any strong connections that you’ve found between the plot motifs you discuss and the cultures they come from?
A: Oh yes, indeed. I could generalize and say that a text published in 1890 will almost always give us a good insight into 1890's prevailing fantasies about love between women (e.g. morbid, neurotic, oversexed, addictive, suicidal). The tone of a text from 1600 (think of Shakespeare's playful cross-dressing heroines and the women who fall for them) will be entirely different. Neither will tell us much about real everyday life, but they certainly make up a cultural history.

Q: How do you feel that gender roles have evolved in today's literature?
A: Oh dear, that's too big a question for a quick answer! I will say that one thing that delights me nowadays is that the lesbians are writing well about whatever they like (including, very often, books that happen to have no lesbians in them) and a wide variety of authors (including straight men) are writing well about lesbians. Let confusion reign!

(Photo © Chris Roulston)

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--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly

The past is a wild party; check your preconceptions at the door, warns British literary historian and novelist Donoghue (Slammerkin) in her comprehensive catalogue of a thousand years of Western literature. [I]n Western culture passion between women is always a big deal, whether presented as glorious or shameful, angelic or monstrous, she claims. These passions are not always, strictly speaking, lesbian, Donoghue says, as she sorts them into categories (e.g., cross-dressing and the resulting 'accident' of same-sex desire' ; women friends who remain inseparable despite all obstacles). She links them to historical developments and deciphers their sometimes obscure language. Morbid, for example, was often a code word for lesbian in the 19th century. Delivering on her promise of a wild party, Donoghue reads Clarissa as a rivalry between Lovelace and Anna for Clarissa's heart; she considers Jane Eyre as an early schoolgirl novel (note Jane's crush on her schoolmate Helen), whose form would be adapted by early lesbian coming-out novels. With her excellent reading list, readers can test for themselves the unexpected continuity Donoghue finds in the presence of passion between women in Western literature. 19 photos. (May 26)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 273 pages
• Publisher: Cleis Press (September 6, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 157344717X
• ISBN-13: 978-1573447171
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.8 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,341,787 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Born in Dublin in 1969, Emma Donoghue is a writer of contemporary and historical fiction whose novels include the bestselling "Slammerkin," "The Sealed Letter," "Landing," "Life Mask," "Hood," and "Stirfry." Her story collections are "The Woman Who Gave Birth to Rabbits," "Kissing the Witch," and "Touchy Subjects." She also writes literary history, and plays for stage and radio. She lives in London, Ontario, with her partner and their two small children.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Sextet: Lesbian Theme and Variations June 8, 2010

By Charlus

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Emma Donoghue has collected six themes which have formed the plot templates for lesbian fiction from the Renaissance onward. They are Travesties (think man dressed as woman attracting a woman, or woman dressed as man doing the same), Inseparables (romantic friendships that may be more), Rivals (a man and a woman vying for a woman's affection), Monsters (wicked women out to corrupt the innocent), Detection (lesbian motivation is the solution to a crime) and Out (coming out stories).

In each of these chapters she gives example after example, summarizing plots, convincingly making the case that if these are not the only possible themes, they have been well worn ones. And it is here that the book truly comes into its own - as discovery is piled on discovery and a whole unknown byway of literary history is brilliantly uncovered. DH Lawrence rubs shoulders with Ariosto, Shakespeare, Henry James, Ovid, Balzac as well as the usual suspects (Radclyffe Hall, et al). Ms. Donoghue makes clear that she could care less about the gender of the author, focusing on the content of the story and how the variations tie to social history and changing attitudes to same sex love.

One comment she makes early illustrates the insight she brings to these stories: she believes endings are overrated. Time and again societal norms control how authors tie up their story. But the more interesting, and more telling ideas come before. In this fascinating, compulsively readable book, she presents the vast panorama of what came before.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Must have for women's studies September 22, 2010

By Victoria Craven

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Whether the relationship is sexual or passionately platonic, the bonds between women can be unbreakable. This is a quite good (and a little exhausting) survey of the variety of women's relationships as presented in literature. It's probably a bit too academic for a general audience but a must have for women's or lesbian studies.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Lucid, Accessible and an Indispensable Resource March 2, 2013

By Jamakaya

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Donoghue has hit the trifecta here with a literary analysis of lesbianism that is lucid, easy to understand and an indispensable resource for further reading and research.

"Inseparable" is broad in scope, covering over a millennium of literature, yet is admirably focused in its themes and discussion. I join others in praising the organization of the subject matter and the clear manner in which it is written. There is very little of the arcane language and abstract theorizing that mar so much literary criticism. The writing is accessible to general readers.

The depth of sources that Donoghue mines for this book is amazing. The detailed notes at the end contain a treasure trove of references to hundreds of additional stories and novels, many rescued from obscurity. Not only are there hundreds of new references to lesbian texts but Donoghue has actually done some of the first translations from French to English. These sources and translations are a major public service.

I'm a big fan of Donoghue's work and enjoy learning more about her, so some of the personal observations she makes add icing to the cake. How delightful to read that Donoghue `scared myself stiff' (like most of us) reading Sarah Waters' Affinity on a transatlantic flight. Or her admission that when it comes to the ongoing academic debate over essentialism v. constructionism, which "verg[es] on silliness," the premise of "Inseparable" probably marks her as an essentialist, "but I hope not a silly one."

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Unrecognized History - Donoghue's somewhat academic but very interesting view of the desire between women in literature May 23, 2011

By HWilliams

Format:Hardcover

How were women's relationships depicted in plays, dramas, poetry, and novels before the 21st Century? In "Inseparable: Desire Between Women in Literature," Emma Donoghue reveals that, although rarely pointed out, authors have shown "desire between women" as accidental, mildly erotic, predatory, thoughtful, and, of course, lusty and lesbian. Both male and female authors of diverse sexual orientations have acknowledged these desires, making the attraction between women an identifiable plot point for the last 1000 years.

Donoghue's well researched book defines six plot motifs and then uses a wide variety of works to demonstrate her categories. She uses well known authors (Shakespeare, Charlotte Brontë, D. H. Lawerence, and Virginia Woolf); less well read but identifiable authors (Chaucer, Ovid in translation, Wilkie Collins, and Anthony Trollope), and some obscure authors (you'll have your own list of authors to research) to round out her categories. I liked this book because it was scholarly but made its arguments with non-academic prose, but I recognize that "Inseparable" is not an easy read and, because of its breadth of knowledge, can sometimes seem to wander.

Emma Donoghue was born in Ireland, educated in Ireland and England, and now lives in Canada. She is a novelist, short story writer, playwright, and literary historian. Among her many novels are the popular "Slammerkin" (which takes places in the mid-1700's), the well reviewed "The Sealed Letter" (which takes place in the 1860's), and the contemporary novel "Room," which was short-listed for the 2010 Man Booker Prize and is currently a best seller. Her historical analysis "Inseparable" was published last year before Room exploded into popular consciousness....

After a short introduction, the six main chapters of "Inseparable" describe and offer examples of different types of desire between women.

Chapter One, "Travesties," shows examples of cross-dressing that result in unintentional same-sex desire. When women cross-dress, she calls the effect "The Female Bridegroom" (think Yentl). When men cross dress, the result is "The Male Amazon" (think Tootsie). Because much of this chapter relies on her earliest sources, such as translations of Ovid, much of the discussion requires lengthy plot descriptions that can obscure some of the most interesting information.

Chapter Two, "Inseparables," portrays the situation when two passionate friends must struggle to stay together. She begins with an eye-opening analysis of the Biblical story of Ruth. A major topic of this chapter centers on jealousies, including cases when two close women are turned into rivals and one woman allows the other to join a man in marriage.

Chapter Three, "Rivals," covers the situation when both a man and a woman compete for a woman's heart. This investigation includes Choderlos de Laclos' "Dangerous Liaisons" and Henry James' "The Bostonians."

Chapter Four, "Monsters," describes relationships in which a wicked woman tries to seduce and destroy an innocent woman, including sex fiends and unknown enemies. This discussion also includes ghosts and Joseph Sheridan le Fanu's "Carmilla," who turns out to be a vampire.

Chapter Five, "Detection," includes examples of female detectives and cases when the discovery of a crime turns out to be a same-sex desire. The authors presented in this chapter include Agatha Christie and Sarah Waters (with whom Donoghue shares a number of interesting characteristics, as they are both British and often write heavily researched historical novels with lesbian themes).

Chapter Six, "Out," outlines plots in which a woman's life is changed when she realizes that she loves her own sex. Unlike some of the earlier chapters, most of these stories are (out of historical necessity) modern. This chapter includes enlightening discussions of Lillian Hellman's "The Children's Hour" and Patricia Highsmith's "The Price of Salt."

Each chapter includes several interesting illustrations, taken from books and book jackets, that add to the textual examples and offer pleasant fuel to keep the academic tone at bay.

For general readers, I highly recommend Donoghue's historical lesbian-themed novels "Slammerkin" and "The Sealed Letter," as well as her imaginative new novel "Room." For readers looking for an interesting but slightly academic history of women's desires in literature, "Inseparable" offers a clear view to which you can add your own examples. After you've read it, you'll pull "Inseparable" off the shelf, either physically or mentally, to identify the previously unrecognized varieties of women's relationships and passions that continue to appear in novels, movies, and TV shows today. (This review originally appeared on the Lambda Literary site.) Read more ›