Vectors of a Flea: The Convergence of Species in Victorian Animal Autobiographies

Abstract

This essay examines three late-nineteenth-century novels— The Autobiography of a Flea, Black Beauty , and Beautiful Joe —that muddle the pornography and animal autobiography genres, revealing how representations of inter-species violence and sexuality were used to narrativize evolution and dissolve the ontological divide between human and animal.

Literary Autozoographies: Contextualizing Species Life in German Animal Autobiography

“…1-2). While critics have traditionally read these texts as social satires and parodies, recent scholarship has probed the historical and discursive contexts [3][4][5][6][7][8][9] as well as the theoretical, narratological and ethical implications [10][11][12][13] of how and 1 Since the article focuses on texts written at a time when terms such as 'nonhuman animals' and 'human animals' were hardly ever used, I will here be using 'animals' and 'humans' respectively to underscore the historical meaning of this (anthropological and anthropocentric) differentiation. 2 "Auto/biography, or a/b.…”