January Talking Meme

executrix asked: Who Would Ouida ship if she were around today (or had a crystal TV set)?

For anyone who doesn't know, Ouida was an extremely prolific and popular Victorian writer who is the object of most of my academic interest and research.

Okay, so to answer this question, I first need to break down the most common character types in her writing. Most of her male protagonists are aristocratic. Many of them are military men. They are all noble and honorable and do not boast about their good deeds, preferring to commit them in private. They never break promises or lie, and they're extremely self-sacrificing. They sleep around a lot and drink and gamble, many of them, but they have hearts of gold.

Ouida has three kinds of female protagonists, most of whom are aristocratic--the childlike, innocent boring women that many of her male protagonists end up married to; scheming adventuresses who destroy the lives of men and generally have a grand time and usually aren't punished for their transgressions; women who don't fit into either mold (reformed adventuresses; innocents who aren't boring; peasants).

Ouida despises the nouveau riche; she despises merchants and businessmen. She is extremely suspicious of politicians. She does not think women and poor people should be able to vote. She is anti-science and technology. Despite living the life of one, she is vehemently against the New Woman. She's also very anti-Semitic and racist.

She is super into environmentalism and animal rights. Many of her protagonists (male and female) are artists, writers, or actors. Her novels are also deeply homoerotic; most of her male protagonists seem pretty deeply in love with their male best friends, and a fair number of them marry the sisters of their BFF who reminds them so much of the BFF physically and temperamentally.

( so who would Ouida ship? )

This was a fun question to contemplate.