Hi Milli!
Thanks for these great, thought provoking posts!!
I agree with you about Selina. The more I think about her scheme with Margaret the more cruel Selina seems. The deliberate way that she manipulated someone in such a fragile/ vulnerable emotional state is pretty low. And, when you think about the Margaret deception in addition to the other cons that Selina was pulling (for instance the prison guard), the perception of Selina's character gets even worse. She really knew how to manipulate people pulling all kinds of emotional strings. And, then when you think about the truly disturbing treatment of the young women at the hands of Selina and "Peter Quick"/Vigers during the heyday of their spiritualist circles, things only get worse for an understanding of Selina.
To me the one aspect of Selina's situation that can evoke sympathy for me is the idea that she might have been somehow manipulated and controlled by Vigers. But, still, the pair of them really are quite disturbing.
And, I really like your observation about Waters' frequent interest in bringing women of different classes together in her stories. That actually reminds me a little bit of E.M. Forster, who was always very interested in the idea of personal relationships across class boundaries (
Maurice is of course his best example of this with the idealized relationship between Maurice and Scudder). The whole issue of class in Victorian and Edwardian England is so fascinating to lay on top of the issue of sexuality and sexual difference.
Another common theme within Waters's writing seems to be crime. In
Tipping,
Fingersmith and in
Affinity, gay characters are shown resorting to different types of criminal activity for a wide range of motivations. In some cases the crimes seem somewhat more justified than other cases and the various characters evoke a huge range of reactions ranging from sympathy to outrage.
For instance, Nan resorting to prostitution in TTV is meant to show her desparation (it seems to me). While there are all sorts of ways to question her judgment about resorting to that kind of activity... I don't think it causes us to like her character less or to be truly outraged at her character for the duration of the whole story. And Zena stealing the money after she and Nan get kicked out of Diana's house is a sad disappointment. Other more extreme situations in
Fingersmith or
Affinity evoke much different types of reactions to the various characters. I wonder if the continual return to the theme of crime in Waters' books has anything to do with a meditation on gay people being forced to the fringes of society or pushed into desparate situations often due to the built in outsider status of gay folks (especially in a Victorian cultural context).
I really like how Waters creates a spectrum of "types" of lesbian and gay characters ranging from good/lovable/wholesome (like Flo) to truly criminal and reprehensible (like Selina and Vigers... or even Gentleman in
Fingersmith).
And, thanks of the great news about Sally!
