[University - English] Sedgwick vs Blake

[Chrissi]

My assignment: Use "Sedgwick's Jane Austen and the Masturbating Girl" to interpret Blake's "Visions of the Daughters of Albion". This can be done in many ways. The assignment is left a little up in the air on purpose since there was a large reading list that we had to choose from - of the articles, this was the only one I could find online, and the library happens to be closed, so boo on that. And I can't compare the article to any of Jane Austen's novels, which would be the sensible thing to do - because I've already used her novels earlier in the term. Basically I chose Blake's work because it's what I've got left over.

This is kind of a clean-up assignment which is making it very hard for me to do. I can't even begin to understand what Sedgwick is trying to get at. What I think the article is about:

Sedgwick starts of talking about the cultural history of masturbation and particularly women's masturbation. Victorians had a "phobia" of masturbation, while at the same time seeking to qualitatively identify, select, separate, and define every type of sexual identity/fetish known. It's when we started to get identified as "heterosexual" or "homosexual". Victorians liked to divide based on sexual interest, and that still holds true for people today.

She then talks about what a "masturbator" is, and the symptoms of masturbating women in 18th century literary works. They are passionate, flighty, secretive but transparent, forgetful, self-centred, and childish.

Now, I can't figure out how to relate it to Visions of the Daughters of Albion. I'm sure there must be some way that the two writings mesh. Anyway, Blake's piece is about Oothoon, married to Theotormin. On her way to see her beloved Theotormin, she's raped by Bromion. Theotormin blames her and binds Oothoon and Bromion together as punishment.

There's also the problem that I don't understand Blake all that well. If you think I'm totally off in thinking these two might be related, I've got some other options that are valid as well. I'll let you know about them, though I have no links, so that if somebody realizes "Hey, this piece is about masturbation, why doesn't she check that out?" they can alert me.

The other readings that I can compare Sedwick to are:

The Lais of Marie de France: Laustic, Bisclavret, Guigemar, Eliduc
Shakespeare's Sonnets: 9, 20, 40, 41, 42, 95, 116, 129, 135, 136, 138, 144, 154
Aphra Behn: "On a Juniper Tree", "To my Lady Morland", "To the fair Clinda.." "A Letter to the Earl of Kildare..." "The Disappointment"
Darwin, Loves of the Plants
Rosetti: Goblin Market
Oscar Wilde, from De Profundis, from The Trials of Oscar Wilde


What I need is help getting started. I need to find a connection between Sedwick and SOMETHING. I can't figure it out because Sedwick is confusing and Iv'e read it over and over and I don't get her point. Also, Visions of the Daughters of Albion sucks, and I'm considering using Goblin Market by Rosetti. I distinctly recall something about self-pleasure in that text.


Edit: After re-reading Rosetti's Goblin Market (poem), I'm finding it much easier to draw parallels from the article. I think I can compare the eating of the fruit to masturbation, as well the flighty, self-centred character Laura is much like a masturbator, while Lizzie saves her. Very similar to Marianne and Elinor in Sense and Sensibility, whom Sedwick's article is pretty much about.

I wouldn't mind some other ideas thrown around though, especially if you've read/are willing to read Goblin Market and/or Sedgwick. However, I must apologize; I was a bit short sighted and didn't give myself enough time for this assignment. At the moment I'm hitting myself because I'm in such a rush to get it done. The essay is due tomorrow at 4pm eastern. I need to have it done BEFORE then so I have printing time, travel time, drop-box-search time, etc. While responses after that time might be interesting, they won't be useful in my getting this assignment done.