Clemence Housman publishes The Unknown Sea

Title page from Housman's The Unknown Sea, published 1898. Open Library.

In 1898, Duckworth published Clemence Housman's second novel, The Unknown Sea. This story relates the love affair between a man named Christian and a cruel mermaid, Diadyomene. Many of the themes present in The Were-Wolf reoccur here; although the antagonist cannot transform like The Were-Wolf's White Fell she is a half-human, half-animal creature whose goal is to seduce and kill a man. Kisses are also associated with death in this text, with Diadyomene kissing Christian after she kills him. In addition, the protagonist shares his name with Christian in The Were-Wolf, and it is similarly used for religious allusions. Here, Christian's martyrdom is represented in his self-sacrifice to save Diadyomene's soul and redeem her (Housman, Unknown Sea; Sutherland, The Longman Companion).

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1898

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