Inscribing the Female Body

Chapter 5 develops a discussion of the Wattses’ and the De Morgans’ writings in which they explore women-centred issues. Drawing on extensive archival research, this chapter studies various neglected writings – private and published – by the Wattses and the De Morgans. Exploring questions of authorship and authority, it analyses collaborative and individual writings that focus on and inscribe the female body: Evelyn’s unpublished juvenilia, William’s neglected novels, and their anonymously published automatic writing; George’s anti-corsetry article, Mary’s private experimentation with poetry, and her published guide to her symbolic decoration The Word in the Pattern. With the exception of William, who embarked on a second career as a novelist, these figures have never before been appraised as literary as well as artistic figures, and their writings are largely unexplored. The author analyses and compares the representation of women in their writings, showing how they explored women’s place, engaged with contentious early feminist debates, and supported or promoted women’s liberation in both their literary and visual works.