Writing Desire: The Love Letters of Frieda Fraser and Edith Williams

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dc.contributor.advisorMcPherson, Kathryn
dc.creatorPerdue, Katherine Anne
dc.date.accessioned2015-01-26T14:35:21Z
dc.date.available2015-01-26T14:35:21Z
dc.date.copyright2014-06-11
dc.date.issued2015-01-26
dc.date.updated2015-01-26T14:35:21Z
dc.degree.disciplineHistory
dc.degree.levelDoctoral
dc.degree.namePhD - Doctor of Philosophy
dc.description.abstractThis dissertation analyzes the intimate relationship produced by and reflected in the written correspondence between Frieda Fraser and Edith Williams, arguably the largest correspondence of its kind in North America. Frieda Fraser was a professor of microbiology at the University of Toronto and Edith Williams was one of the first female veterinarians in Canada. Their correspondence was written from 1924 to 1927 and then intermittently from 1933 to 1943. This dissertation contends that Frieda’s and Edith’s correspondence was a place wherein the women created a self-defined sexual description that was in dialogue with cultural discourses that denoted the meaning of the modern lesbian. Frieda and Edith referred to themselves as “devoted women,” their designation of a sexual subjectivity that marked their differentiation from these discourses. Edith and Frieda arrived upon a unique notion of romantic devotion, shaped alongside an awareness of contemporary depictions of the lesbian in literature, in science, and in the theatre. This dissertation analyzes how two middle-class Canadian women came to live their lives as “devoted women” within a culture that did not recognize, nor mirror their sexual identities. Affected by modernism, Edith’s and Frieda’s letter-writing produced, enhanced, and helped the women define their desire for one another. Moreover, the women’s devoted relationship benefitted their medical careers and their medical careers benefitted their partnership. In relation to family and profession this dissertation asks to what degree was discretion employed in order to preserve their relationship? In focusing on the correspondence, this dissertation is more than an exercise in “finding the lesbians” in Canadian history: it asks “how did the lesbians find themselves?”
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10315/28211
dc.language.isoen
dc.rightsAuthor owns copyright, except where explicitly noted. Please contact the author directly with licensing requests.
dc.subjectCanadian history
dc.subjectGLBT studies
dc.subjectWomen's studies
dc.subject.keywordsTravel and Canadian women historyen_US
dc.subject.keywordsWriting desireen_US
dc.subject.keywordsLGBT historyen_US
dc.subject.keywordsLesbian love letters and analysisen_US
dc.subject.keywordsCanadian women's historyen_US
dc.subject.keywords1920s and Canadian womenen_US
dc.subject.keywordsModernism and letter writingen_US
dc.subject.keywordsCorrespondence and sexualityen_US
dc.subject.keywordsLesbian subjectivityen_US
dc.subject.keywordsWomen and medicineen_US
dc.subject.keywordsWomen doctorsen_US
dc.subject.keywordsWomen veterinariansen_US
dc.subject.keywordsFrieda Fraseren_US
dc.subject.keywordsEdith Williamsen_US
dc.subject.keywordsNew York Infirmary for Women and Childrenen_US
dc.subject.keywordsPhipps Instituteen_US
dc.subject.keywordsOntario Veterinary Collegeen_US
dc.subject.keywordsDonald Fraseren_US
dc.subject.keywordsTechnology and letter writingen_US
dc.subject.keywords1920s culture and Canadian lesbian subjectivityen_US
dc.subject.keywordsRacism and anti-semitism in Canadian medical historyen_US
dc.subject.keywordsLiterature and early lesbian subjectivity in Canadaen_US
dc.subject.keywordsLesbians in 1920s Englanden_US
dc.subject.keywordsLesbians in 1920s New Yorken_US
dc.subject.keywordsMothers and lesbian daughters' relationships in Torontoen_US
dc.subject.keywordsGender and women in medicineen_US
dc.subject.keywordsProfession and passionen_US
dc.subject.keywordsWorld War II fosteringen_US
dc.subject.keywordsJenny Rodden_US
dc.subject.keywordsConnaught Laboratoriesen_US
dc.subject.keywordsEdith Clarkeen_US
dc.subject.keywordsMurial McPhedranen_US
dc.subject.keywordsWomen internsen_US
dc.subject.keywordsThe Captiveen_US
dc.subject.keywordsHirschfelden_US
dc.subject.keywordsLa Garconen_US
dc.subject.keywordsPatient care-Canadian medical historyen_US
dc.subject.keywordsObstetrics' historyen_US
dc.subject.keywordsHistory gay familyen_US
dc.subject.keywordsLiterature theatre and lesbian subjectivityen_US
dc.subject.keywordsLesbianism--personal accountsen_US
dc.subject.keywordsMiddle-class professional lesbians in Canadaen_US
dc.subject.keywordsCanadian modernism and sexual subjectivityen_US
dc.titleWriting Desire: The Love Letters of Frieda Fraser and Edith Williams
dc.typeElectronic Thesis or Dissertation

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