Fatal Women

In this major contribution to lesbian theory and cultural studies, Lydia Hart explores how the shadow of the lesbian animates representations of violent women in literature, plays, film and performance.In this major contribution to lesbian theory and cultural studies, Lynda Hart analyses the way violent women have been represented in literature, plays, films, and performance.Starting from the historical link between criminality and sexual deviancy, Hart builds a complex and original...
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In this major contribution to lesbian theory and cultural studies, Lydia Hart explores how the shadow of the lesbian animates representations of violent women in literature, plays, film and performance.In this major contribution to lesbian theory and cultural studies, Lynda Hart analyses the way violent women have been represented in literature, plays, films, and performance.Starting from the historical link between criminality and sexual deviancy, Hart builds a complex and original theory in which the shadow of the lesbian animates representations of violent women from the Victorian novel to the recent proliferation of films depicting women who kill. This cross-disciplinary study - one of the first book-length contributions to lesbian theory, critiques constructions of gender, race, class, sexualities, and the cultural politics of the 1990s.Hart's introductory chapter constructs a theory of female violence across the discourses of sexology, criminology and psychoanalysis. Subsequent chapters detail this theory in:* the Victorian novel and stage sensation Lady Audley's Secret* Frank Wedekind's Lulu Plays, which introduced the 'invert' onto the European stage* Thelma and Louise, Mortal Thoughts, and Basic Instinct* the political intersection of race and gender in Secret White Female* the performance art of Karen Finley in the context of censorship debates* the fate of Aileen Wuornos, dubbed the 'first serial killer' by FBI, and* the Split Britches' performance Lesbians Who Kill.