“Not the Kind of Thing Anyone Wants to Spell Out”: Lesbian Silence in Emma Donoghue’s Neo-Victorian Representation of the Codrington Divorce

Abstract

This article looks into how Donoghue uses the trope of silence to reiterate lesbian history in her reimagination of the relationship between Helen Codrington and Emily Faithfull. I will argue that the public/private dichotomy we generally associate with the Victorians is disrupted during the fictionalization of the Codrington trial, as the private lives of these women are put on public display. Firstly, I will give a brief overview of Donoghue as a lesbian author and then situate her within neo-Victorian fiction. Secondly, I will provide a socio-cultural context to the Codrington divorce. Thirdly, I will examine lesbian affection in The Sealed Letter, focusing on how the author applies subtle and perceptive, rather than descriptive, language to depict queer relations in the Victorian period. I will argue that the representation of the legal struggle in contemporary media entailed a gross invasion of privacy. In an attempt to demonstrate how lesbian identity is put under social pressure I will draw attention to how the protagonist faces the threat of having her sexuality publicly exposed in the courtroom and reported in the media, an idea I will link to the public/private dichotomy.