Introduction:

The Yellow Book was published in London from 1894 – 1897 and was a quarterly literary periodical. It contained a wide range of genres including poetry, short stories, essays, illustrations, portraits and paintings that remain central to the study of fin-de-siècle art literature and society (Kooistra and Denisoff, 2012). Published by John Lane and edited by Henry Harland and Aubrey Beardsley, it inspired many great artists, authors and political movements that continued into the 20th century. The illustration that I will be analyzing is called The Repentance of Mrs. **** by Beardsley and the text I will be analyzing is a short story by Harland and it is called The Bohemian Girl. Each of these can be found in the fourth volume of the book. I will be examining these works in relation to the context of sexuality and sexual indiscretions during the yellow nineties.

Harland's Reception and Influence:

The reception of The Bohemian Girl much like Beardsley’s illustration was controversial and highly spoken about at the time. In 1895 the New York Times wrote an article with a title that shows the negative feelings towards this volume. It was titled “That Yellow Nuisance” and this automatically tells the reader how the author views The Yellow Book. The article goes on to discuss Harland’s short story and the character of Nina as he classifies “the character of the Yellow Book as not nice, but nasty”(New York Times, 1895).

Harland was someone who wanted to be famous for his writing so he had a tendency to bolster certain aspects of his life and writing (Schmidt). He contributed to the development of the short story as a genre and his fiction often depicted class struggles and dominating ideologies. Harland was “famous for his eccentricities more than for the quality of his writings”(Schmidt, 2012) but The Bohemian Girl showed his exotic views towards marriage and sexuality in the Yellow Nineties. Part of his influence was on fin-de-siècle artists, like Wilde, who considered the artistic and social elites to be a last stronghold against what they saw as growing social mediocrity (Schmidt, 2012).

Argument:

The works that I am looking at were produced during a time where sexual relationships were scarcely spoken about and were meant to remain within the confines of marriage. Beardsley was a controversial artist and it is my contention that with this image he is challenging the existing negativity towards sexual expression by showing an alternative option to extra martial affairs existed even if people were unwilling to discuss this openly.

With Harland’s short story, societal expectations of women are challenged and alternative options to marriage are introduced. It is my contention that Harland was trying to normalize the idea of women not needing to get married in order to live a full life and the idea that sexuality can be expressed outside of a marriage should be legitimized. Both of these men were trying to use their work to promote sexual expression by creating art that promoted and discussed these issues publicly with the masses.

Image, Text, Context:

Having sexual relations of all kinds outside of marriage was frowned upon during this time. It was seen as a sin and women who participated in these acts were condemned. Not only were women expected to get married and be faithful to their husbands, divorce was scarcely an option for even the wealthiest women. Divorce law in nineteenth century England shows conservativism in social and political attitudes such as the expression of sexuality (Hammerton 1990). These laws were limited in application, and reflecting rigid inequities of class and gender (Hammerton, 1990), making it nearly impossible for a woman to exit a marriage.

Harland attempted to challenge this notion by creating a character in Nina who was morally against the institution of marriage calling it a “barbarous institution” (Harland 37), and was willing to participate in sexual relations with men anyway. She held strong views against marriage and ended up pregnant with a daughter whom she raised as a single mother. Nina’s views towards marriage were influenced by her father. He believed that if love exists then people should be free to determine the duration and extent of their sexual relationship (Harland 37). By engaging in sex outside of marriage Nina challenged the dominating opinions of men and women who surrounded her and succeeded in making them question the legitimacy of their own views.

This was considered extremely controversial and elicited differing opinions from men and women in Nina's life. Some viewed her no differently and others referred to her daughter as her “fault”(Harland, 42). The man in the story worried that people would not support her business knowing that she had a child out of wedlock but it did not seem to have an effect on her success. People accepting Nina and not looking down on her shows a progression that Harland hopes will come in the future. Seeing as how Nina’s behavior is atypical of the time in relation to her views on sex and marriage, Harland is drawing attention to a different way of living for women other than marriage being the only option. This can be regarded as one of the first steps towards liberation and feminist movements that took place late in the 19th century and early in the 20th century. This is evidence of changing views towards female sexuality.

Image, Text, Context Continued:

Seeing as how Nina’s behavior is atypical of the time in relation to her views on sex and marriage, Harland is drawing attention to a different way of living for women other than marriage being the only option. This can be regarded as one of the first steps towards liberation and feminist movements that took place late in the 19th century and early in the 20th century. This is evidence of changing views towards female sexuality.

In Beardsley’s illustration it is important to note that it is women who appear to be ridiculing the repenting woman and not men. This can be inferred as either jealousy due to their own repressed sexual desires or that historically women have been the biggest critics of each other. Perhaps Beardsley chose not to depict men in the photograph because in his progressive mind men have a more relaxed opinion of female sexual expression and are more willing to allow women to express their sexuality in the same way that men do without condemnation.

The woman in his illustration is clearly married as evidenced by his title “Mrs.” and this is important because he is portraying a woman who participated in a sexual affair with another man. The imagery that is taken away from this illustration is powerful because Beardsley was known to create controversial art. The Yellow Book was known to produce numerous examples of erotic sexuality that became associated with Beardsleyesque femininity in particular with the aesthetic and decadent movement (Ledger, 2007).