Tipping the Velvet

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Tipping the Velvet

First edition cover (American edition)
Author Sarah Waters
Country United Kingdom
Language English
Publisher G P Putnam's Sons
Publication date 1998 (UK)
Media type Print (Hardcover and Paperback)
Pages 472 pp
ISBN ISBN 1573221368
For the TV serial based on the novel, see Tipping the Velvet (TV serial)

Tipping the Velvet is a 1998 lesbian novel written by Sarah Waters, set in the Victorian era. It was her debut novel. It tells the story of Nancy Astley, an oyster girl from the English town of Whitstable, who falls in love with a male impersonator and stage performer named Kitty Butler. The book, like the rest of Waters' novels, has a strong lesbian theme, though Tipping the Velvet in particular deals very candidly with the topic of lesbian sex and desire along with the role that economic class can play in oppression. The title is Victorian slang for cunnilingus.[1]

Waters was studying for her PhD, writing a dissertation on gay and lesbian literature in the Victorian era, titled "Wolfskins and Togas: Lesbian and Gay Historical Fictions from 1870 to the Present," when she decided she would rather invent stories than study them.[2] In wanting to write an historical novel, the concept, she said, made her think of Patience and Sarah, "Two women rather isolated, probably living in the country, coming together against all odds and setting up life together in a small-scale sort of way. I just thought, God, there's so much more to lesbian history than that."[3] Expounding on that inspiration, she added, "I wanted to write a story that had lesbians at the heart of urban life; that played with literary models; and, more importantly, showed that there was not just one way of being a lesbian, but many."[4]

Contents

[edit] Plot summary

[edit] Part One

The story is revealed in first person and is a narration of events long past. At 18 years old, Nancy, who later becomes known as Nan, lives with her family in Whitstable in the 1880s, working in the oyster house her father owns and sharing everything with her older sister. Nan joins her sister at the theatre one evening, and she is awestruck by a performer: Kitty Butler, a young woman who dresses in men's costumes and sings traditionally masculine songs. Nan gets Kitty's attention by attending all her performances, is asked backstage and to her delight eventually becomes Kitty's dresser.

To seek fame, Kitty is asked to perform in London by a man who becomes her manager, Walter Bliss. She asks Nan to accompany her, and Nan, completely smitten (although unexpressed to Kitty), jumps at the chance. Kitty flounders in London at first and remains unknown. Nan supports her as her dresser and "as a sister" while Kitty travels from theatre to theatre and Walter tries different songs and performance changes to find what it is that will cause Kitty to be noticed.

At a party one evening, Kitty becomes jealous of attention received by Nan from a young man, and although Nan brushes him off, Kitty's own feelings become told, and their relationship is consummated physically that evening. The very next day, Walter discovers by chance what has been missing from Kitty's act: a partner. Nan joins the act as Kitty's male impersonator sidekick and they become quite famous together. They engage in an affair that is kept strictly in secret by Kitty's demand, but is endured by the lovestruck Nan. Homesick for her family after being gone more than a year, Nan travels back home for a visit and discusses the nature of her relationship with Kitty with her sister Alice. Alice rejects Nan's joy and pride in Kitty and their relationship chills. Feeling cast from her family, Nan returns to London early to surprise Kitty, and finds her in bed with Walter.

[edit] Part Two

Completely heartbroken, Nan takes her costumes and some of the money from her performances and wanders the streets of London before shutting herself away in a filthy boarding house for weeks. After learning by chance the fact that Kitty and Walter have been married, Nan wakes from her stupor and begins to assert her independence by walking the streets of London as a young man in her former theatrical costumes. Her money running out, she curiously begins to earn money as a rentboy, performing oral sex on particular men, but disguised as a man.

Boarding with another family after being tossed from the filthy Smithfield house (because the matron mistook her coming in the door as a man for her having men in her room), Nan meets Florence by chance. Florence is a charity worker who strikes up conversation. Feeling they have a connection, they make plans for a date, but before the day comes Nan is hired by a wealthy widow for an evening. The widow, Diana Leathaby, finds Nan on the street and has watched her for some time. Diana keeps Nan financially and physically, hidden away and almost imprisoned, for over a year. Nan is in the meantime introduced to Diana's peculiar wealthy circle of Sapphist friends, who take delight in their shared debauchery.

Being objectified by Diana and her friends, Nan feels little reason to stay, and after being found with Diana's maid in a compromising position, is struck by Diana and both are thrown out on the street in winter with nowhere to turn. Diana's maid leaves Nan at a charity house, and through will, pennies, and incredible good fortune, Nan soon finds herself on Florence's doorstep where she promptly faints.

[edit] Part Three

Nan moves herself in, seemingly beyond Florence's will, to work as her maid in the house that Florence shares with her brother Ralph and an infant of unknown origin, named Cyril. Nan recovers from her life of luxurious objectification with Diana to become familiar with Florence and Ralph's connection to the Socialist movement in London. Known only as a homeless girl at first, Nan proves her worth by cooking and cleaning for the family. But the once cheery and laughing Florence is now known as moody and sad. It is discovered that Cyril is the son of a woman that also lived with Florence and Ralph - who was thrown out for being pregnant out of wedlock, died in childbirth, and who Florence loved passionately but secretly.

After a year of living with Nan, Florence invites her to a lesbian pub one evening, where much to Nan's chagrin, former fans of Kitty Butler and Nan King (her stage name) notice her and ask her if she is indeed who she is. Shocked at seeing her homeless maid in a new light, Nan tells Florence about her past and they slowly and hesitantly begin a relationship, both of them wounded and frightened.

The climax of the story surrounds a Socialist rally Ralph and Florence organize in a park in London, where Nan must teach Ralph how to speak in public. A surprisingly popular event, Nan meets Diana's maid Zena, where all is forgiven. Diana is also spotted with a new object. Ralph falters in his speech and is assisted by Nan, who completes it with him. But the biggest surprise is that Nan is approached after all these years by Kitty Butler again, who is in the crowd.

With Florence in sight, Kitty asks Nan to come back to her, to continue their affair while Kitty is married to Walter. Realizing how much shame Kitty lived in for their love, and how much of Nan was compromised during their love affair, Nan turns Kitty away and joins Florence.

[edit] Themes

Gender androgyny is a continued theme throughout the book. Waters places Nan's upbringing in the oyster house, an animal that is hermaphroditic, and includes a scene where Nan's father compares Kitty to an oyster. Nan rents to men she thinks are gay, but only when she is dressed as a man.

Pride and shame are recurring themes as well:

  • Once Nan realizes that she is in love with Kitty, boasts of her and considers Kitty and the love she feels for her a source of pride.
  • On the other hand, Kitty battles shame for what she feels for Nan.
  • Diana seems to have no shame at all.
  • When Nan offers to Florence to hide their relationship when family members visit, Florence balks at the idea of being ashamed in her own home to Nan's surprise.
  • When Kitty asks Nan to come back to her, Kitty, unchanged, offers to have a relationship in secret while still married to Walter.
  • Author Waters also uses blatant double entendres with words such as "queer" and "gay".

[edit] Critical reception

The novel received overwhelming positive reviews and Waters was compared to Charles Dickens by several reviewers, not only for the time period the story was set in, but the adventurous rambling plots. The Library Journal declared, "From the seaside to the Socialist underground, this is an amusing romp through late Victorian society."[5] Publishers Weekly agreed, saying, "Nancy's search for love and identity is a raucous, passionate adventure, and a rare, thrilling read."[6] The New York Times Book Review declared, "If lesbian fiction is to reach a wider readership...Waters is just the person to carry the banner," yet criticized Waters' heavy Socialist tones toward the end of the novel.[7] "Walters has crafted a well-written, eminently Victorian soap opera populated by believable, three-dimensional characters."[8]

[edit] Awards and nominations

[edit] Television adaptation

Main article: Tipping the Velvet (TV serial)

Tipping the Velvet was adapted into a BBC television drama serial of the same name, originally screened in three episodes on BBC Two in 2002. It was produced for the BBC by the independent production company Sally Head Productions, and starred Rachael Stirling as Nancy Astley. Also starring was actress Keeley Hawes as Kitty Butler, well-known for her role in the BBC thriller series Spooks, and Jodhi May as Florence, who has since played Anne Boleyn in the BBC dramatisation of Philippa Gregory's historical novel The Other Boleyn Girl.

[edit] Rumour

A persistent rumour claims a film adaptation of Tipping the Velvet will be directed by Sofia Coppola, starring Beyoncé Knowles and Eva Longoria. However, Longoria insists that everything about the rumour is false, right down to "quotes" cited as being from herself and Knowles. Knowles also wonders where the false quotes and story originate from.[9]

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ Taking Velvet public: author Sarah Waters reflects on the sensation she started by writing Tipping the Velvet, the novel that became a smash UK miniseries that's now set to conquer America.
  2. ^ Tiernan, Sonja. "The Politics of Lesbian Fiction: Sonja Tiernan Interviews Novelist Sarah Waters." Irish Feminist Review. Sep 2006. Vol. 2 pg. 148.
  3. ^ Stockwell, Anne. "Sarah Waters: Tipping the Velvet; A major talent debuts with a sexy romp through the lesbian boudoirs of Victorian London." The Advocate. Jun 22, 1999. pg. 12.
  4. ^ Seejay, Carol. "Sarah Waters." Lambda Book Report: Spring 2006. Vol. 14, Iss. 1; pg. 4.
  5. ^ Thomas, Devon. "Tipping the Velvet (book review)." Library Journal. Mar 15, 1999. Vol. 124, Iss. 5; pg. 112.
  6. ^ Steinberg, Sybil. "Tipping The Velvet (book review)." Publishers Weekly. Apr 12, 1999. Vol. 246, Iss. 15; pg. 53.
  7. ^ Seymore, Miranda. "Tipping the Velvet (book review)." New York Times Book Review. Jun 27, 1999. p. 30.
  8. ^ Stone, Martha. "Victorian Soap." The Gay & Lesbian Review Worldwide. Oct 31, 1999. Vol. 6, Iss. 4; pg. 59.
  9. ^ Article at People.com