The Highwaywoman Special, including 5 Highwaywoman Romances
This is my first “fifth week special” episode, when I have to come up with something outside my 4-topic rotation. Today we have a multi-media look at female highwaymen in history, song, and story, including five lesbian highwaywoman romances.
In this episode we talk about
The historic era of the highwaymen
Ballads featuring female highwaymen (you get to hear me sing!)
Women in history who went “on the pad” as they say, or who were rumored to have done so
The most popular formula for lesbian highwaywoman novels
Five lesbian highwaywoman romances, plus one bonus highway robbery incident
The various persons and works discussed or presented in this podcast (in order of appearance) are as follows. Some historic references may apply to more than one person.
“The Highwayman” (excerpt, lyrics by Alfred Noyes music by Phil Ochs, performed by Heather Rose Jones)
“The Highwayman” by Alfred Noyes, 1906
Phil Ochs performing his interpretation, originally released on I Ain’t Marching Anymore, 1965
“The Female Highway Hector”, 1683-1703 (excerpt, anonymous broadside ballad, sung to the tune “The Rant”, performed by Heather Rose Jones)
Facsimile of the original broadside ballad
The Rant, collected by William Chappell in 1858
Historic highwaywomen Joan Bracey, Ann Meders, Nan Hereford
“Women of the Road” by Isabelle Goddard
Rumored highwaywomen Katherine Ferrers (“The Wicked Lady”) and Mary Frith (Moll Cutpurse)
“The Wicked Lady” movie
“The female highwayman, or the blighted lily: A drama in three acts” play
“Female Highwaymen” by Stephen Basdeo, 2015
“Sovay, or The Female Highwayman” (full text, traditional ballad, music traditional?, performed by Heather Rose Jones)
Oldest version of the lyrics, collected by Rev. S. Baring-Gould in 1890
A popular later variant, with the most popular tune can be found at the Mudcat Cafe folk music site
For cross-dressing motifs in literature in general:
Walen, Denise A. 2005. Constructions of Female Homoeroticism in Early Modern Drama. New York: Palgrave MacMillan. ISBN 978-1-4039-6875-3
Rebeccah and the Highwayman by Barbara Davies (Bedazzled Ink, 2008)
The Locket and the Flintlock by Rebecca S Buck (Bold Strokes Books, 2012)
Daring and Decorum by Lawrence Hogue (Supposed Crimes, 2017)
The Mask of the Highwaywoman by Niamh Murphy (self-published, 2017)
Behind the Mask by Kim Larabee (Alyson Books, 1989 out of print)
“The Mazarinette and the Musketeer” by Heather Rose Jones (self-published, 2016)
More info
The Lesbian Historic Motif Project lives at: http://alpennia.com/lhmp
You can follow the blog on my website http://alpennia.com/blog or subscribe to the RSS feed http://alpennia.com/blog/feed/
If you have questions or comments about the LHMP or these podcasts, send them to: [email protected]
A transcript of this podcast is available here.