Across an Untried Sea : Discovering Lives Hidden in the Shadow of Convention and Time

Rating:
Summary: Unconventional Women
Review: 'Across an Untried Sea' is an interesting, if scattered narrative of several women - both European and American -- who are revealed to have defied 19th C conventions both sexually and artistically. The main focus is on American actress Charlotte Cushman, a woman who found success in both female character roles and in playing male roles such as Romeo. A lesbian in an age where the Cult of Domesticity reigned (and dictated that all women should marry and bear children), Cushman pledges 'eternal friendship' to several women in succession, although always returning to 'spouse' Emma Stebbins (a sculptress best known for the Bethedsa Fountain in Central Park, New York). Included in Cushman's 'possessions' were Hattie Hosmer, another female sculptress; Jane Carlyle, troubled wife of historian Thomas; Emma Crow, infatuated with Cushman and marries her nephew Ned; and the Brownings, whose love story fascinates Cushman and her circle. Markus' narrative becomes more cohesive as the book expands, but in the beginning, it's unclear what her message in these women's experiences is; at times, Markus seems to dismiss Cushman's 'infidelities' to Stebbins as nothing, which begs the question: what if Cushman was a man? Would Markus have treated the clandestine relationship with Emma Crow any differently (and the 'serial monogamy' of both Cushman and Crow before and after their individual affair)? I cannot imagine a man with the same habits being literarily forgiven as Markus does Cushman. In addition, Markus' prose seems almost from the era in which her narrative is set, making her words seem quaint - they lose their impact. The inclusion of Jane Carlyle and her troubled life could have been a book on its own; Markus implies much about the potential feelings between Jane and Cushman, as well as between Jane and good friend Geraldine Jewsbury (one photo describes their physical positions as akin to a wedding photo - is this a stretch?). Regardless of the sometimes scattered storylines, this remains a very interesting examination of women who did indeed cross an 'untried sea' (the title is explained only at the end of the book), and as performers, writers, biographers, and artists, expanded the choices of women in their own time and for the future.

Rating:
Summary: Examines the lives of Victorian women
Review: This new title examines the lives of Victorian women, from writers and poets to sculptors and social reformers - all of whom were celebrated in their day, but forgotten in modern times. From Charlotte Cushman to literary Jane Welsh Carlyle, Across an Untried Sea provides a fine survey of women.