Scotch Verdict
The Real-Life Story That Inspired "The Children's Hour"
Will be published approx. on 8. January 2013
Book
Paperback/Softback
320 pages
978-0-231-16325-5 (ISBN)
Description
In 1810, a Scottish student named Jane Cumming accused her school mistresses, Jane Pirie and Marianne Woods, of having an affair in the presence of their students. Dame Helen Cumming Gordon, the wealthy and powerful grandmother of the accusing student, advised her friends to remove their daughters from the Drumsheugh boarding school. Within days, the institution was deserted and the two women were deprived of their livelihoods. Award-winning author Lillian Faderman recreates the events surrounding this notorious case, which became the basis for Lillian Hellman's famous play, The Children's Hour. Reconstructing the libel suit filed by Pirie and Woods-which resulted in a scotch verdict, or a verdict of inconclusive/not proven-Faderman builds a compelling narrative from court transcripts, judges' notes, witnesses' contradictory testimony, and the prejudices of the men presiding over the case. Her fascinating portrait documents the social, economic, and sexual pressures shaping the lives of nineteenth-century women and the issues of class and gender contributing to their marginalization.
Reviews / Votes
Faderman continues her valuable excavations of the archaeology of erotic relationships between women... [She] has succeeded in recreating an absorbing, often peculiarly moving courtroom drama. -- Terry Castle Signs The records are fascinating: they open up for us the worlds of the young female student and the schoolmistress, as well as the workings of the judicial system of early nineteenth-century Scotland. Beyond that, they make us privy to a unique glimpse of what lesbianism was considered to be at the time... A brilliant find. -- Karla Jay Women's Review of Books Faderman, a noted U.S. feminist, recreates the trial superbly, using the original transcripts and her own detective work. She examines the trial from a feminist viewpoint, showing how it revealed the prevailing attitudes toward women in a phallocentric society. Her approach is valid and compelling, but her story is fascinating on many other levels as well... Totally engrossing. -- William French Globe and Mail An absorbing transcript detailing the evolution of our understanding of the sexual relationships between women using the Scotch trial as the lynchpin. The story is mesmerizing while the writing is riveting. -- Aron Row San Francisco Book ReviewMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Weight
411 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-231-16325-5 (9780231163255)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
08/2015
1st Edition
De Gruyter
from
€27.95
Available for download
Persons
Lillian Faderman is professor emerita of English at California State University, Fresno. Her award-winning titles are Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers: A History of Lesbian Life in Twentieth-Century America; Surpassing the Love of Men: Romantic Friendship and Love Between Women from the Renaissance to the Present; Naked in the Promised Land: A Memoir; To Believe in Women: What Lesbians Have Done for America-A History; and Gay L. A.: A History of Sexual Outlaws, Power Politics, and Lipstick Lesbians.
Content
Foreword to the 2013 Edition Nota Bene Acknowledgments Part I. The Accusation Part II. The Trial Part III. The Review and Appeal Part IV. The Settlement