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A review by sammy_
Gentleman Jack: A Biography of Anne Lister, Regency Landowner, Seducer and Secret Diarist by Katy Derbyshire, Angela Steidele
3.0
The TV series Gentleman Jack has piqued many people's interest (including my own) in reading more about the real-life Anne Lister, 19th century landowner, lesbian, traveller, and prolific diarist.
On the one hand, like a lot of reviewers, I have to be honest - she didn't seem that nice. She pursued potential partners largely for their fortunes, had several partners at a time despite promising life partnership, and was in favour of - and widely used - child labour. Her relationship with her final partner, Ann Walker, appeared particularly toxic, and coercive at times, with Lister setting out to acquire - and then spend - the majority of Walker's fortune.
On the other hand, as other reviewers have also noted, she was a 19th century landowner. If the subject was a man, few people would be surprised to hear of a 19th century landowner marrying for money, treating his partners with indifference and infidelity, or resisting social change which threatened his own privilege - so why should we feel shocked when the subject is a woman?
Additionally, what's remarkable about Anne Lister's diaries is their frankness. Amounting to five million words in all, there was little detail she left out - whether it cast her in a good light or not. Intended only for her eyes, they were brutally unsanitised. If any of us committed our true feelings and motives to paper for thirty years, would we come off that well?
Although the book draws heavily on diary extracts, other reviewers have found the depiction overly negative. I can't comment, having not read other biographies of Anne Lister, but I felt that Seidele largely allowed verbatim content to speak for itself. The question is how selective she was in choosing that content. The book ran a little long, but with five million words and thirty years to summarise (including extensive and remarkable travels across Europe which could fill a volume by themselves), I could forgive that. In any case, the true appeal of any biography of Anne Lister will always be Anne Lister.
On the one hand, like a lot of reviewers, I have to be honest - she didn't seem that nice. She pursued potential partners largely for their fortunes, had several partners at a time despite promising life partnership, and was in favour of - and widely used - child labour. Her relationship with her final partner, Ann Walker, appeared particularly toxic, and coercive at times, with Lister setting out to acquire - and then spend - the majority of Walker's fortune.
On the other hand, as other reviewers have also noted, she was a 19th century landowner. If the subject was a man, few people would be surprised to hear of a 19th century landowner marrying for money, treating his partners with indifference and infidelity, or resisting social change which threatened his own privilege - so why should we feel shocked when the subject is a woman?
Additionally, what's remarkable about Anne Lister's diaries is their frankness. Amounting to five million words in all, there was little detail she left out - whether it cast her in a good light or not. Intended only for her eyes, they were brutally unsanitised. If any of us committed our true feelings and motives to paper for thirty years, would we come off that well?
Although the book draws heavily on diary extracts, other reviewers have found the depiction overly negative. I can't comment, having not read other biographies of Anne Lister, but I felt that Seidele largely allowed verbatim content to speak for itself. The question is how selective she was in choosing that content. The book ran a little long, but with five million words and thirty years to summarise (including extensive and remarkable travels across Europe which could fill a volume by themselves), I could forgive that. In any case, the true appeal of any biography of Anne Lister will always be Anne Lister.