An English cover-up: masks, murders, and English cruelty in Goncourt, Lorrain, and Schwob
Fin-de-siècle writers from diverse disciplines were drawn to the seductive potential of masks and disguise; mask-wearing characters of indefinite identity, indeterminate gender, and insecure psychology proliferate in their texts. However, when characters are designated as English in such stories, th...
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| Format: | Article |
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Taylor and Francis
2017
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/46849/ |
| _version_ | 1848797410978955264 |
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| author | Scott, Hannah |
| author_facet | Scott, Hannah |
| author_sort | Scott, Hannah |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Fin-de-siècle writers from diverse disciplines were drawn to the seductive potential of masks and disguise; mask-wearing characters of indefinite identity, indeterminate gender, and insecure psychology proliferate in their texts. However, when characters are designated as English in such stories, they are also, and with remarkable frequency, associated with cruelty or murder: the mask-wielding murderers of Marcel Schwob’s ‘MM. Burke et Hare, Assassins’ carry out their crimes in Britain upon British victims; Edmond de Goncourt weaves his theatrical narrative around the mask-like demeanour of Lord Annandale in La Faustin; and Jean Lorrain’s malicious Lord Ethal exacerbates the Duc de Fréneuse’s perverse obsessions with masks in Monsieur de Phocas. This article explores this unexpected correlation, and examines the ways that English masks are used as narrative devices – at once to mould and play with national distinctions, and to reflect upon the psychological state of the French subject. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T20:03:27Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-46849 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T20:03:27Z |
| publishDate | 2017 |
| publisher | Taylor and Francis |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-468492020-05-04T19:22:44Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/46849/ An English cover-up: masks, murders, and English cruelty in Goncourt, Lorrain, and Schwob Scott, Hannah Fin-de-siècle writers from diverse disciplines were drawn to the seductive potential of masks and disguise; mask-wearing characters of indefinite identity, indeterminate gender, and insecure psychology proliferate in their texts. However, when characters are designated as English in such stories, they are also, and with remarkable frequency, associated with cruelty or murder: the mask-wielding murderers of Marcel Schwob’s ‘MM. Burke et Hare, Assassins’ carry out their crimes in Britain upon British victims; Edmond de Goncourt weaves his theatrical narrative around the mask-like demeanour of Lord Annandale in La Faustin; and Jean Lorrain’s malicious Lord Ethal exacerbates the Duc de Fréneuse’s perverse obsessions with masks in Monsieur de Phocas. This article explores this unexpected correlation, and examines the ways that English masks are used as narrative devices – at once to mould and play with national distinctions, and to reflect upon the psychological state of the French subject. Taylor and Francis 2017-12-15 Article PeerReviewed Scott, Hannah (2017) An English cover-up: masks, murders, and English cruelty in Goncourt, Lorrain, and Schwob. Dix-Neuf, 21 (3). pp. 142-154. ISSN 1478-7318 English masks cruelty murder Marcel Schwob Edmond de Goncourt Jean Lorrain Les Vies imaginaires La Faustin Monsieur de Phocas http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14787318.2017.1386886 doi:10.1080/14787318.2017.1386886 doi:10.1080/14787318.2017.1386886 |
| spellingShingle | English masks cruelty murder Marcel Schwob Edmond de Goncourt Jean Lorrain Les Vies imaginaires La Faustin Monsieur de Phocas Scott, Hannah An English cover-up: masks, murders, and English cruelty in Goncourt, Lorrain, and Schwob |
| title | An English cover-up: masks, murders, and English cruelty in Goncourt, Lorrain, and Schwob |
| title_full | An English cover-up: masks, murders, and English cruelty in Goncourt, Lorrain, and Schwob |
| title_fullStr | An English cover-up: masks, murders, and English cruelty in Goncourt, Lorrain, and Schwob |
| title_full_unstemmed | An English cover-up: masks, murders, and English cruelty in Goncourt, Lorrain, and Schwob |
| title_short | An English cover-up: masks, murders, and English cruelty in Goncourt, Lorrain, and Schwob |
| title_sort | english cover-up: masks, murders, and english cruelty in goncourt, lorrain, and schwob |
| topic | English masks cruelty murder Marcel Schwob Edmond de Goncourt Jean Lorrain Les Vies imaginaires La Faustin Monsieur de Phocas |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/46849/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/46849/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/46849/ |