Love between the lines : paradigmatic readings of the relationship between Dora Carrington and Lytton Strachey

[摘要] This thesis focuses on the relationship between Dora Carrington and Lytton Strachey andoffers three models for reading their unconventional relationship. Carrington was in lovewith the homosexual Strachey and the two lived together at Tidmarsh, and later HamSpray House, for more than fourteen years. The three models make extensive use ofprimary sources, namely the letters and diaries of Carrington and Strachey. Furthermore,I draw on two seminal biographies of Carrington and Strachey written by GretchenGerzina and Michael Holroyd respectively.The first model I examine is a form of pederasty. I argue that, soon after they met,Carrington and Strachey began a friendship which was based on his educating her in avariety of ways. He served as a mentor both intellectually and sexually. Strachey wasfamiliar with the concept of pederasty as a result of his involvement with the CambridgeConversazione Society, better known as the Apostles, and used his knowledge to induct arather naïve Carrington into new ways of thinking. This pederastic relationship alsoallowed Carrington a certain amount of freedom as it enabled her to pursue her artwithout the demands a heterosexual male would make of her.The second model for reading their relationship is that of parody. While Carrington andStrachey's relationship resembles a heteronormative relationship, it can, at times, be readas parodic. I argue that they both subvert heteronormativity in humorous ways as a meansto critique their parents' Victorian marriages and to interrogate notions of masculinityviand femininity. I discuss the roles they played within their domestic environment, andpay particular attention to how this intersected with Carrington's artistic endeavours. Thisparodying of heteronormativity was, I suggest, also one of the only ways they could findof expressing the love they felt for one another.The last model I offer draws on theories of kinship. I examine how Carrington andStrachey resorted to familial constructions of descent as a means to veil the love they hadfor one another and to avoid criticism and ridicule from the Bloomsbury group andbeyond. When they established a home at Tidmarsh, they altered their form of kinship toutilise principles of alliance. However, another shift took place with the introduction ofRalph Partridge, Carrington's husband, and I argue that the terms they used to addresseach other changed to constructions, once again, of descent, at least until the dissolutionof the Carrington-Partridge marriage.Carrington and Strachey's relationship is often viewed as unconventional and she is oftendepicted as being utterly subservient towards him. However, the three models I have useddemonstrate that their love was mutual. The models also reveal their relationship to bequite conventional in the manner in which Carrington and Strachey expressed their lovefor one another and how these expressions of love developed during the different phasesof the life they spent together.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University