Wicked Eunuchs: Literary Caricatures
Posted: Sat Sep 10, 2022 10:08 am
Tucker Lieberman, who has published two books on eunuchs, will be presenting an Internet lecture on Sunday, September 11th. Tucker’s description of his presentation runs:
Some slavery systems and palace hierarchies castrated boys and men. A castrated body could have religious meaning, too. Historically, these cultures rationalized castration as a bodily transformation that turned someone into "a eunuch" and suited him to perform certain roles, especially serving the needs of dominant men. As eunuchs performed distinct social roles, they were perceived as a separate gender.
We have few texts preserving the first-person voices of historical eunuchs, but we do see caricatures of eunuchs in fiction. Eunuchs show up in Western fiction as Orientalist stereotypes, often as villains who represent monstrosity, cruelty, decadence, or mindless obedience. On command, they kidnap and guard women; they spy and participate in intrigues; they murder their rivals. They often lurk at the edges.
Weʼll look at stories including William Beckfordʼs Vathek (1786), James Justinian Morierʼs Zohrab, the Hostage (1832), Gustave Flaubertʼs Salammbo (1862), and Vernon Leeʼs The Virgin of the Seven Daggers (1889).
What does the eunuch gender signify inside these 18th and 19th-century fictions? How does the presence of a eunuch character contribute to a storyʼs genre or aesthetic—specifically, to its horror? Whatʼs the link to 20th and 21st-century fears about transgender and nonbinary people?
Tucker Lieberman has written two nonfiction books related to popular conceptions of eunuchs: Painting Dragons and Ten Past Noon. He is from the United States and lives in Bogotá, Colombia.
While the lecture is free, you need to register in advance to watch the presentation:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/romancin ... 0996677463
Some slavery systems and palace hierarchies castrated boys and men. A castrated body could have religious meaning, too. Historically, these cultures rationalized castration as a bodily transformation that turned someone into "a eunuch" and suited him to perform certain roles, especially serving the needs of dominant men. As eunuchs performed distinct social roles, they were perceived as a separate gender.
We have few texts preserving the first-person voices of historical eunuchs, but we do see caricatures of eunuchs in fiction. Eunuchs show up in Western fiction as Orientalist stereotypes, often as villains who represent monstrosity, cruelty, decadence, or mindless obedience. On command, they kidnap and guard women; they spy and participate in intrigues; they murder their rivals. They often lurk at the edges.
Weʼll look at stories including William Beckfordʼs Vathek (1786), James Justinian Morierʼs Zohrab, the Hostage (1832), Gustave Flaubertʼs Salammbo (1862), and Vernon Leeʼs The Virgin of the Seven Daggers (1889).
What does the eunuch gender signify inside these 18th and 19th-century fictions? How does the presence of a eunuch character contribute to a storyʼs genre or aesthetic—specifically, to its horror? Whatʼs the link to 20th and 21st-century fears about transgender and nonbinary people?
Tucker Lieberman has written two nonfiction books related to popular conceptions of eunuchs: Painting Dragons and Ten Past Noon. He is from the United States and lives in Bogotá, Colombia.
While the lecture is free, you need to register in advance to watch the presentation:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/romancin ... 0996677463
