Altered States

Marlene Tromp

Description

Altered States examines the rise of Spiritualism—the religion of séances, mediums, and ghostly encounters—in the Victorian period and the role it played in undermining both traditional female roles and the rhetoric of imperialism. Focusing on a particular kind of séance event—the full-form materialization—and the bodies of the young, female mediums who performed it, Marlene Tromp argues that in the altered state of the séance new ways of understanding identity and relationships became possible. This not only demonstrably shaped the thinking of the Spiritualists, but also the popular consciousness of the period. In diaries, letters, newspaper accounts, scientific reports, and popular fiction, Tromp uncovers evidence that the radical views presented in the faith permeated and influenced mainstream Victorian thought.

List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments

Introduction: Performing Readings

Part I: Spirit Made Flesh

1. Spirited Sexuality: Sex, Marriage, and Victorian Spiritualism

2. Wedding Stories/Ghost Stories

Part II: Ghosts of Home

3. Ghostly Erotics and Imperialism in the Victorian Drawing Room

4. Economics, Race, and the Specter of Class

5. Drunk with Power: Stories of Ghostly Others

Part II: Transforming the Self

6. Under the Influence: The Fox Sisters and Pernicious Spirits

7. Haunted by Doubts: Elizabeth d'Espérance, Social Justice, and the Reconfiguration of Mediumship

Notes
Bibliography
Index

Sujets

• Reino Unido
• 19th century
• Ireland
• United Kingdom
• Stephen Ireland
• Great Britain
• Royaume-Uni

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 01 février 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780791481936
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 3 Mo

Extrait

Altered States Sex, Nation, Drugs, and Self Transformation in Victorian Spiritualism

Marlene Tromp

Altered States

S U N Y s e r i e s , S t u d i e s i n t h e L o n g N i n e t e e n t h C e n t u r y

Pamela K. Gilbert, editor

A LT E R E D S TAT E S

Sex, Nation, Drugs, and Self-Transformation in Victorian Spiritualism

Marlene Tromp

S T A T E U N I V E R S I T Y O F N E W Y O R K P R E S S

Published by S T A T E U O FN I V E R S I T Y N E W Y O R K P R E S S A LBANY

© 2006 State University of New York

All rights reserved

Printed in the United States of America

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.

For information, address State University of New York Press, 194 Washington Avenue, Suite 305, Albany, NY 12210-2384

Production, Laurie Searl Marketing, Anne M.Valentine

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Tromp, Marlene, 1966– Altered states : sex, nation, drugs, and self-transformation in Victorian spiritualism / Marlene Tromp. p. cm. (SUNY series, studies in the long nineteenth century) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-7914-6739-2 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Spiritualism—England. 2. England—Religion—History—19th century. I. Title. II. Series.

BF17261.2.T76 2006 133.9’0941’09034—dc22

2005016024

ISBN-13: 978-0-7914-6739-8 (hardcover : alk. paper)

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

I dedicate this book to my beloved father Hans August Tromp

(1929–2001) and my dear Aunt Lillian Ahrens (1927–2000), both of

whom fought lung cancer with great courage and grace while I

researched and drafted this book.These two people, whose intellectual

encouragement always inspired me, taught me more about life in the

face of their deaths than I could have learned any other way. Their

spirits surely infuse this project.

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One

Two

Three

Four

Five

C o n t e n t s

List of Illustrations

Acknowledgments

Introduction: Performing Readings

PART I: Spirit Made Flesh

Spirited Sexuality: Sex, Marriage, and Victorian Spiritualism

Wedding Stories/Ghost Stories

PART II: Ghosts of Home

Ghostly Erotics and Imperialism in the Victorian Drawing Room

Economics, Race, and the Specter of Class

Drunk with Power: Stories of Ghostly Others

ix

xi

1

21

49

75

97

129

Six

Seven

v i i i

A l t e r e d S t a t e s

PART III: Transforming the Self

Under the Influence: The Fox Sisters and Pernicious Spirits

Haunted: Elizabeth d'Espérance, Social Justice, and the Evolution of Mediumship

Notes

Bibliography

Index

151

181

201

213

225

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Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

Figure 5

Figure 6

Figure 7

Figure 8

Figure 9

I l l u s t r a t i o n s

Illustrations follow chapter 3.

“Yolande,” Elizabeth d’Espérance’s materialized spirit

Materialization cabinet

Florence Cook

“Katie King,” Florence Cook’s materialized spirit

“Katie King” in a circle of sitters

Sir William Crookes

Newspaper cartoon of a medium’s exposure

Elizabeth d’Espérance

Catherine Wood