When Romeo Was a Woman

Merrill Lisa

ISBN 10: 0472087495 / ISBN 13: 9780472087495

Published by University of Michigan Press, 2000

About this Item

Seller Inventory # 7080476

Bibliographic Details

• Title: When Romeo Was a Woman
• Publisher: University of Michigan Press
• Publication Date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0472087495
• ISBN 13: 9780472087495
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

At the height of her career, actress Charlotte Cushman (1816-76) was one of the most famous women in the English-speaking world. Cushman challenged Victorian notions of gender in her stage portrayals of male characters and of strong, androgynous female characters. Offstage, she was a powerful businesswoman who supported her family, women lovers, and friends.
Lisa Merrill examines Cushman's personal correspondence to shed new light on the actress's relationships and in turn on our understandings of the nature of women's "romantic friendships." She demonstrates how Cushman's androgynous presence served as a symbol to many of her contemporaries, and revealed their multiple and often contradictory attitudes toward female performers, women, and the unspeakable possibilities of same-sex desire.
The biography draws upon unpublished archival material as well as on current critical work to view Cushman's career, relationships, and posthumous reception. When Romeo Was a Woman examines as autobiographical performance Cushman's own narratives, the stories she authorized others to write, and the letters she wrote to intimates. The book is richly illustrated with many previously unpublished portraits of Cushman in her various stage roles, including Romeo and Lady Macbeth, and other revealing photographs of her family, lovers and friends.
When Romeo Was a Woman will find an appreciative audience among general readers as well as specialists in gay/lesbian history, women's history, theater and performance, popular culture, Victorian studies, and American studies.
"A fascinating story, and a major contribution to our understanding of lesbian history. . . . The work done on archival resources is both impressive in its extent and wholly convincing in its effect." --Jacky Bratton, University of London
Lisa Merrill is Associate Professor of Communication and Performance Studies, Hofstra University. She is the coauthor of The Power to Communicate: Gender Differences as Barriers, and the author of Untying the Tongue: Power, Gender, and the Word, forthcoming.

About the Author

Lisa Merrill is Professor of Communication and Performance Studies, Hofstra University. She is the co-author of The Power to Communicate: Gender Differences as Barriers, and the co-editor of Untying the Tongue: Power, Gender, and the Word.