The Absent Presence of Virginia Woolf: Queering <i>Downton Abbey</i>

Nesbitt, Jennifer Poulos

doi:10.1111/jpcu.12404

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…However, while studies focusing on the spatiality and discourses of material landscapes innumerably address the individual, few works connect the individual – the embodied scale of biography – with the spectral or absent, especially in terms of memory work and the production of (national) identities. Nesbitt (2017), for instance, initiates a necessary discussion on the absent presences of individuals’ multiple and complex identities in the context of the nation by drawing from queer theory to deconstruct the memorialisation and absence of Oscar Wilde and Virginia Woolf in Downton Abbey . Taking previous work on Wilde’s identity from Dollimore (1991, p. 6), which delineates both a political Wilde and an aesthetic Wilde, Nesbitt identifies Downton Abbey as utilising the different “Wildes” in different situations creating “structural distance between the two references” (2017, p. 254).…”

Section: Scalar Memory Landscape and Biographymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Nesbitt (2017), for instance, initiates a necessary discussion on the absent presences of individuals’ multiple and complex identities in the context of the nation by drawing from queer theory to deconstruct the memorialisation and absence of Oscar Wilde and Virginia Woolf in Downton Abbey . Taking previous work on Wilde’s identity from Dollimore (1991, p. 6), which delineates both a political Wilde and an aesthetic Wilde, Nesbitt identifies Downton Abbey as utilising the different “Wildes” in different situations creating “structural distance between the two references” (2017, p. 254). By doing so, the absent presence of Oscar Wilde disempowers his engagement with historical themes, given the historic context, that Wilde’s political and aesthetic identities could more powerfully address.…”

Section: Scalar Memory Landscape and Biographymentioning

confidence: 99%

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The absent presence of Paul Robeson in Wales: Appropriation and philosophical disconnects in the memorial landscape

Rhodes

2021

Trans Inst British Geog

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Memorialisation of specific individuals necessitates processes of remembering and forgetting, memory work, and obfuscation. The African American Paul Robeson is considered an "honorary Welshman" and a "Welsh achiever." How could Robeson, erased from the history books in his own country, be appropriated by popular vote as a Welsh national hero? This paper questions how Robeson's philosophies, evident in his arts and actions, were memorialised into those of a Welsh hero through the theoretical lens of absent presence and geographies of biography. I explore this relationship between Wales and Robeson further to understand his influence and commemorative presence in Wales via the material memorial landscape of Robeson and how he is represented within broader Welsh memorialisation and nationalism. Through the discourse of the memorial landscapes of Wales, elements of his philosophy may be over-or under-represented.For example, he connected with the strong socialist history in Wales, but the complexity of Robeson's philosophical framework remains absent. Why were only some of his philosophical beliefs transmitted into Welsh society and the memorial landscape? This paper reveals both the presence and absence of Paul Robeson's complex biography in the material memorial landscape in Wales. As a case study on the inclusion of (auto)biographical knowledge in the context of complex geographies and landscapes, this work frames biographical inclusion and exclusion as vital geographic concerns, particularly in the precarious Black geographies of Paul Robeson in Wales. In so doing, it further reifies the indelible connections between geography, biography, and the socio-political contexts from which memorial landscapes emerge.

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Section: Scalar Memory Landscape and Biographymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Scalar Memory Landscape and Biographymentioning

confidence: 99%

The absent presence of Paul Robeson in Wales: Appropriation and philosophical disconnects in the memorial landscape

Rhodes

2021

Trans Inst British Geog

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“Welcome to a New Era”? Downton Abbey in 2019

Layne

2020

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Let's Talk about Sex: Period Drama Histories for the Twenty-first Century

Taddeo¹

2019

Journal of British Cinema and Television

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Downton Abbey's international success has inspired a resurgence of interest in the period drama genre. This article examines how Downton, like other period dramas which target largely female audiences, historicises sex, and how, in engaging with contemporary topics from reproductive freedom to rape, Downton and other popular costume dramas which have followed in its wake, in particular Call the Midwife and Poldark, allow viewers to interact with these small-screen histories on an emotional level. Furthermore, the period dramas discussed in this article do in fact challenge the perceived conservative impulses of the genre as a whole and open up progressive possibilities.

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The Absent Presence of Virginia Woolf: Queering Downton Abbey

Cited by 3 publications

References 8 publications

The absent presence of Paul Robeson in Wales: Appropriation and philosophical disconnects in the memorial landscape

The absent presence of Paul Robeson in Wales: Appropriation and philosophical disconnects in the memorial landscape

“Welcome to a New Era”? Downton Abbey in 2019

Let's Talk about Sex: Period Drama Histories for the Twenty-first Century

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