Lonesome Liz's Mojo Menagerie

Official stream of consciousness page of Outlaw Magazine's Lonesome Liz

Posts tagged victorian

9 notes

The son of the woman in this photo was told that his mother had died when, in fact, she had been sent to Western State Hospital. He didn’t find the truth out till he himself was on his deathbed. Some people have said that my Hopkinsville event is in poor taste, that focusing on ‘isms’ of the long dead mentally ill is disrespectful. I think the opposite is the case and the opposite is, in fact my aim. I think what is grossly disrespectful was committing the sane and leaving them no legal recourse, (widespread), and, worst of all, burying the poor (at least half if not more of the inmates in Victorian Asylums, which doubled as poor houses), and mentally ill in unmarked graves and/or lying to family members about their whereabouts. I think they deserve to be remembered. How else to do so but by including their illness or lack thereof? Ignoring that they lived or how and/or how they died, which has been the general practice, is, to me, much more horrific than any ghost I’ve ever encountered.

The son of the woman in this photo was told that his mother had died when, in fact, she had been sent to Western State Hospital. He didn’t find the truth out till he himself was on his deathbed. Some people have said that my Hopkinsville event is in poor taste, that focusing on ‘isms’ of the long dead mentally ill is disrespectful. I think the opposite is the case and the opposite is, in fact my aim.

I think what is grossly disrespectful was committing the sane and leaving them no legal recourse, (widespread), and, worst of all, burying the poor (at least half if not more of the inmates in Victorian Asylums, which doubled as poor houses), and mentally ill in unmarked graves and/or lying to family members about their whereabouts.

I think they deserve to be remembered. How else to do so but by including their illness or lack thereof? Ignoring that they lived or how and/or how they died, which has been the general practice, is, to me, much more horrific than any ghost I’ve ever encountered.

Filed under victorian asylum mental health mental illness

3 notes

Is not life altogether a long comedy, with Fate for the stage-manager, and Passion, Inclination, Love, Hate, Revenge, Ambition, and Avarice, by turns, in the prompter’s box?

 A tiresome comedy sometimes, with dreary, talkee, talkee front scenes which come to nothing, but only serve to make the audience more impatient as they wait while the stage is set and the great people change their dresses; or a “sensation” comedy, with unlooked-for tableaux and unexpected dénoûments; but a comedy to the end of the chapter, for the sorrows which seem tragic to us are very funny when seen from the other side of the foot-lights…

M. E. Braddon, Aurora Floyd

Filed under literature, quotes victorian novel victorian

19 notes

Speaking of Victorian Ghosts…

After watching and reading ‘Lady Audley’s Secret’ I’ve become utterly enamored of M.E. Braddon and am now reading ‘Aurora Floyd’ http://www.archive.org/stream/aurorafloyd02bradgoog/aurorafloyd02bradgoog_djvu.txt check them out - these, along with endlessly watching ‘Upstairs Downstairs’ on Netflix, have been marvelous distractions from a nasty autumn chest cold.

Filed under victorian novel victorian m. e. braddon literature books upstairs downstairs