Author: Justyna Jajszczok, Instytut Literaturoznawstwa (Institute of Literary Studies), niwersytet Śląski w Katowicach (University of Silesia) - Google Scholar, ORCID, ResearchGate

Abstract: »This topic is further explored in a chapter by Justyna Jajszczok, “Infectious Corruption: Sexual Violence in Wilkie Collins’ The Woman in White and Sarah Waters’ Fingersmith,” which closes this shorter introductory part of the volume. The chapter considers forbidden expressions of sexuality in terms of infection and corruption, exploring a Victorian novel and its neo-Victorian retelling in order to elucidate the discursive potential of the concept of contamination/corruption in the context of sexuality. The chapter discusses two examples of such infection metaphors in the discussed works, inviting the reader to consider how the infection metaphor can be conceived of as an instrument of both concealment and discovery, speaking the unspeakable, which in this case takes the form of bodily violation. All in all, this section provides much-needed insight into the ways sexuality and desire become objects of concealment but also markers of disobedience in historical realities that insist upon upholding the moral status quo.« (Source: Musiał-Pudełko, Aleksandra, Nina Augustynowicz and Agnieszka Podruczna. »Introduction.« Erotic Discourses in History, Culture and the Arts. Edited by Aleksandra Musiał-Pudełko et al. New York 2026: 3)

Contents:

	Introduction (p. 26)
	Sensations that Corrupt Minds and Bodies (p. 26)
	Scarlet Fever and a Scarlet Woman (p. 31)
	Conclusion (p. 35)
	References (p. 35)

Reviews: -

Wikipedia: History of Europe: History of England | Literature: English literature / Wilkie Collins, The Woman in White (novel) | Literature: English literature / Sarah Waters, Fingersmith (novel) | Sex and the law: Sexual violence