Anne Lister

An alternate cover edition can be found here. Anne Lister defied the role of womanhood seen in the novels of Jane Austen: she was bold, fiercely independent, a landowner, industrialist, traveler, and a lesbian. She kept extensive diaries of her life and loves, written partly in code. Made up of Greek letters mingled with other symbols of her own devising, Anne referred to the code as her "crypthand," and the use of it allowed her the freedom to describe her intimate life in great detail. Her diaries have been edited by Helena Whitbread, who spent years decoding and transcribing them.

Originally published as No Priest But Love. When Helena Whitbread first published excerpts from Anne Lister's diary, which was written in a complicated, esoteric code, it was hailed as a lost piece of lesbian history. Whitbread has devoted years to researching and transcribing Lister's extensive journals; the 'crypthand' had allowed Lister to record her life in intimate, and at times, explicit, detail. It was the first time her story had been told. This second volume continues the story of one of the most remarkable women of her time: landowner, industrialist, traveller and lesbian. Anne Lister arrives in post-revolutionary Paris in 1824, attempting to recover from a doomed love affair with a married woman. There she becomes emotionally entangled with a young widow. Anne's efforts, firstly to extricate herself from this new 'scrape' and then to make a choice between the two women in her life, provides an absorbing sexual and social drama. We follow Anne Lister to Buxton, Derbyshire, where a husband appears in hot pursuit of his straying wife who has, in turn, followed Anne there; in Halifax, the Yorkshire town of Anne's birth; to London; and to post-revolutionary Paris, a city alive with political intrigue. Anne's descriptive powers bring each scene vividly to life, providing a brilliant, kaleidoscopic background to her story.

THE SECRET DIARIES OF MISS ANNE VOL. 1: I Know My Own Heart (Virago Modern Classics)

Con una mirada más allá de muchas convenciones, Anne Lister escribió, de forma sistemática y minuciosa hasta su muerte, sus diarios; en ellos recoge sus experiencias personales y cotidianas —dibujando así el paisaje social, económico, político y geográfico de su época—, y los detalles de sus relaciones con otras mujeres. Constituidos originalmente en 26 volúmenes y 4.000.000 millones de palabras, y escritos en 1/6 en un código propio elaborado por ella misma (con elementos del alfabeto griego antiguo y símbolos algebraicos, código descifrado a principios del siglo XX), los diarios de Anne Lister perduran hasta nuestros días manteniendo su inefable significado. «Caballero Jack», apelativo por el que la referían en algunos círculos en referencia a sus maneras masculinas de vestir, es la primera obra en castellano dedicada a su figura; proponemos a través de ella un repaso a su historia personal y a través de extractos de sus diarios, perennes a su puño, letra y pasiones. Intrépida viajera, ávida lectora y aprendiz, capaz terrateniente, montañera, incesante curiosa, explícita lesbiana, amante seductora… cualquier aspecto de la vida de Anne Lister (Halifax, 1791- Kutaisi, 1840) la hace merecedora de ser rescatada del olvido del tiempo.

Upon publication, the first volume of Anne Lister's diaries, I Know My Own Heart, met with celebration, delight, and some skepticism. How could an upper class Englishwoman, in the first half of the nineteenth century, fulfill her emotional and sexual needs when her sexual orientation was toward other women? How did an aristocratic lesbian manage to balance sexual fulfillment with social acceptability? Helena Whitbread, the editor of these diaries, here allows us an inside look at the long-running love affair between Anne Lister and Marianna Lawton, an affair complicated by Anne's infatuation with Maria Barlow. Anne travels to Paris where she discovers a new love interest that conflicts with her developing social aspirations. For the first time, she begins to question the nature of her identity and the various roles female lovers may play in the life of a gentrywoman. Though unequipped with a lesbian vocabulary with which to describe her erotic life, her emotional conflicts are contemporary enough to speak to us all. This book will satisfy the curiosity of the many who became acquainted with Lister through I Know My Own Heart and are eager to learn more about her revealing life and what it suggests about the history of sexuality.