White Nympholepsy

The chapter is an investigation into and meditation on whiteness, purity, and cleanliness, as the author contextualizes Cunard’s development and childhood surrounded by the literary circle her mother, Maud “Emerald” Lady Cunard, fostered and encouraged. Marcus uses Moore’s Confessions, Manet’s painting Le Linge (the laundry), and Cunard’s relationship to her mother to explore women’s poverty, the role of women as muses to male artists, and Cunard’s identification with homelessness and exile.