Natasha's Exhibit

Linda Hughes has talked about the importance of “sideways reading” (1-2) and when reading Victorian texts, one should look at the surrounding texts, articles, pictures, advertisements, and so on in its original form. By doing this, the text’s meaning could change as there is cultural and historical context, but it also creates a conversation with the two or more different texts that are side-by-side.

Due to interpreting the texts in this way, the text analysis then relies on Roland Barthes’ Death of the Author theory as the texts around The Moonstone might be interpreted differently than how the author initially wrote it. As The Moonstone was written, the author’s intended interpretations of Miss. Clack could have been different, but due to the surrounding texts, the texts show her in a different light and might even paint her in a more vain and naïve character than written alone.

Due to the Death of the Author theory, the author’s intentions of the character is less relevant, while the relevance remains in the interpretation of the readers by also using the texts surrounding the first chapter narrated by Miss Clack. The texts around The Moonstone create dimension to the characters in the story, more so than the story itself provides. Miss. Clack’s character is critiqued and added to because of the surrounding illustrations, articles, and stories. The texts around the chapter create conversation around Miss Clack's Christianity and add to the comparison between her and Mr. Godfrey. 

 

Barthes, Roland. “Death of the Author.” The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism, edited by Vincent B. Leitch et al., W.W. Norton, 2010, pp 1322-1326.

Hughes, Linda K. "SIDEWAYS!: Navigating the Material(ity) of Print Culture." Victorian Periodicals Review, vol. 47 no. 1, 2014, p. 1-30. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/vpr.2014.0011.