Full citation:Baylis-Green, Caroline. 2023. “Self-Conscious Closeting and Paradoxical Writing in Anne Lister’s Diaries” in Decoding Anne Lister: From the Archives to ‘Gentleman Jack’, Chris Roulston & Caroline Gonda, eds. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. ISBN 9781009280723
At the time of writing, the ebook of this publication was available through Open Access at not cost at the following url: https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/decoding-anne-lister/E6CFCB182F71891949C4709148422131
5. Self-Conscious Closeting and Paradoxical Writing in Anne Lister’s Diaries by Caroline Baylis-Green
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I’m going to skim over this article because it falls in the category of “scholarship about modern philosophical theories” and doesn’t really say much about Lister’s historic context. In this case, the modern theory has to do with the concept of the closet. So it analyzes Listers’ practices around concealment and management of her personal life, but does so in a framework based on 20th century ideas about being closeted. Many of the historic texts and frameworks that are discussed are not examined in terms of how Lister engaged with them, but rather uses them as metaphors. (Just as an example, there is a discussion of “crypt” as indicating an enclosed burial chamber, connecting this to the concept of “closet,” where there’s no basis for thinking this was a connection Lister made in speaking of her “crypt hand.”)
The article does bring in some interesting comparative topics, such as the use of code in other peoples’ diaries. But all in all, this article is of little value to an understanding of the historical context of Lister’s life.
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