The incredible weaving and intricate artwork of Laurence Housman’s House of Joy was truly a sight to behold for this week’s reading. I was familiar with his art from beforehand through Goblin Market, but seeing him illustrate his own writing here is wonderful. A writer who can illustrate his own work truly encapsulates a vision well realized. The sweeping detail and fluid use of languid poses and compositional elements sets his illustrations apart, along with the vivid allusions to women’s rights and same-sex love. 

I was particularly fascinated by Alicia’s presentation for “The Story of the Herons”. I found it really interesting how the Prince Heron was yearning for his old life as a bird and could potentially be seen as an allegory for a homosexual man wanting to be freed from the restrictive societal notions and crimes imposed upon him, as would have been common-place during the Victorian period. Unfortunately, this is still a common fear and struggle for many gay individuals, and I found it astonishing that even during such an oppressive and narrow-minded timeframe as that of the Victorian period, Housman may have been suggesting this with his work. 

A comment I did not get around to posing for Alicia was that I definitely believed that marriage leaned towards more superficial means in Victorian society, as it was an accessible ladder for people to earn money and property and move between the ranks in the social hierarchy. I believe that Housman was making a statement here, maybe even striking a parallel towards how women used marriage as a tool as part of his support for the suffragette movement. Marriage was a necessary transaction to merge power and assets, rather than a sentimental coalescence, thus empty in nature.