This paper argues that in Sarah Waters's fictions the trope of pearls reflects critical debates between lesbian-feminist and queer politics, movements which are often posited as ideological dichotomies and rendered as a simplistic either/or theoretical position. Within this debate, queer theory “critiques” lesbian feminism as an essentialist paradigm whilst lesbian-feminism retains the category “lesbian” from receding within queer's rubric. I argue that pearls offer a micro analysis of such tensions between theoretical models in which pearls, as a multifarious, suggestive trope reflects a queer conception of identity and desire and retaining an allegiance to the categories woman and lesbian that are central to lesbian-feminist politics. This paper draws on examples from all of Waters's novels to date, Tipping the Velvet (1998), Affinity (1999), Fingersmith (2002), The Night Watch (2006) and The Little Stranger (2009), and builds on the work of Kathryn Simpson and Nicky Hallett, who have also explored the significance of pearls in women's writing. It explores some of the equivocal deployments of pearls in Waters's novels in relation to the representation of identities and the themes of class, gender and sexuality and seeks to locate Waters's use of pearls within a tradition of lesbian writing.
展开▼
机译：本文认为，在莎拉·沃特斯的小说中，珍珠的寓言反映了女同性恋-女权政治之间的批判性辩论，这些运动通常被视为意识形态上的二分法，并被简化为一种或两种或一种理论上的立场。在这场辩论中，酷儿理论“批评”女同性恋女权主义作为一种本质主义范式，而女同性恋女权主义则保留了“女同性恋”这一类别，使其不再在同父异母的评论中退缩。我认为珍珠提供了对理论模型之间这种张力的微观分析，在珍珠中，珍珠作为一种多才多艺的暗示性手段，反映了对身份和欲望的奇怪观念，并保留了对女同性恋和女权主义政治至关重要的女性类别的忠诚。本文以沃特世（Waters）迄今为止的所有小说为例，这些作品以Tipping the Velvet（1998），Affinity（1999），Fingersmith（2002），The Night Watch（2006）和The Little Stranger（2009）为基础，并以凯瑟琳·辛普森（Kathryn Simpson）和妮基·哈雷特（Nicky Hallett），他们还探索了珍珠在女性写作中的重要性。它探讨了沃特斯小说中有关珍珠的某些模棱两可的布署，它们与身份的表现以及阶级，性别和性主题有关，并试图将沃特斯对珍珠的使用定位于女同性恋的写作传统中。
展开▼
