Isabella "Isa" Jane Blagden

Isabella "Isa" Jane Blagden

Blagden, Isabella "Isa", 1816?-1873

Journalists/Writers

Arts--Literature

Italy--Florence

"Isa Blagden is the author of five fairly sentimental yet often outspokenly feminist novels, a small volume of poetry, and a number of essays and short stories—almost all of which were published in London during the 1860s. She lived primarily in Florence, and much of her work deals with Italian settings, characters, and politics. Her writing also frequently addresses the issues of women's occupations and independence, of female artistic genius, of mesmerism and spiritualism, and of moral as opposed to physical beauty." (from: OrlandoProject)
Blagden was close to the Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning. Their letters have, for example, been published in Florentine Friends (edited by Philip Kelley and Sandra Donaldson) and often mention their interactions with Cushman, Stebbins, and Hosmer.

Reference

1816-06-30

1873-01-20

Indian

writer

Sharon Gordon's PhD thesis Representations of Feminist and Lesbian Consciousness and the Use of Subversive Strategies in Selected Poetry of Isabella Jane Blagden (1817-1873) (Edinburgh Napier University, 2016) includes a chapter entitled 'Isabella Blagden: Lesbian Consciousness." In this chapter, Gordon "Blagden's lesbian consciousness is defined in terms of her erotic attraction to women and the notion of a utopian lesbian sisterhood" (11). Here, Gordon gives a detailed account of Blagden's relationship with (and admiration of) Charlotte Cushman, Harriet Hosmer, and Matilda Hays, and how her same-sex attraction has shaped her poetry.