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:''For the TV serial based on the novel, see Tipping the Velvet (TV serial)'' ''Tipping the Velvet'' is a historical novel published as Sarah Waters' debut novel in 1998. Set in Victorian England during the 1890s, it tells a coming of age story about a young woman named Nan who falls in love with a male impersonator, follows her to London, and finds various ways to support herself as she journeys through the city. The picaresque plot elements have prompted scholars and reviewers to compare it to similar British urban adventure stories written by Charles Dickens and Daniel Defoe. The novel has pervasive lesbian themes, concentrating on eroticism and self-discovery. Waters was working on a PhD dissertation in English literature when she decided to write a story she would like to read. Employing her love for the variety of people and districts in London, she consciously chose an urban setting. As opposed to previous lesbian-themed fiction she had read where the characters escape an oppressive society to live apart from it, Waters chose characters who interact with their surroundings. She has acknowledged that the book imagines a lesbian presence and history in Victorian London where none was recorded. The main character's experiences in the theatrical profession and her perpetual motion through the city allow her to make observations on social conditions while exploring the issues of gender, sexism, and class difference. As Waters' debut novel, ''Tipping the Velvet'' was highly acclaimed and was chosen by ''The New York Times'' and ''The Library Journal'' as one of the best books of 1998. Waters followed it with two other novels set in the Victorian era, both of which were also well received. Reviewers have offered the most praise for ''Tipping the Velvets use of humour, adventure, and sexual explicitness. The novel was adapted into a somewhat controversial three-part series of the same name produced and broadcast by the BBC in 2002 and a stage play in 2015. ==Inspiration and publication== When Sarah Waters was 19 years old, she joined a student house in Whitstable, Kent, sharing a bed and then falling in love with another young woman. They lived there for two winters in what became a six-year relationship. She recalled, "It was cold, isolated, romantic and so intense—quite special."〔McCrum, Robert (10 May 2009). "What Lies Beneath: Ghosts, Gothic horror, lesbians, poltergeists, female hysteria... There are hidden depths to Sarah Waters...", ''The Observer'' (England), p. 20.〕 In 1995, Waters was at Queen Mary and Westfield College writing her PhD dissertation on gay and lesbian historical fiction from 1870 onward when she became interested in the Victorian era. While learning about the activism in socialism, women's suffrage, and utopianism of the period, she was inspired to write a work of fiction of the kind that she would like to read. Specifically, Waters intended to write a story that focused on an urban setting, diverging from previous lesbian-themed books such as Isabel Miller's ''Patience and Sarah'', in which two women escape an oppressive home life to live together freely in the woods. She said to herself at the time, "there's so much more to lesbian history than that".〔Seajay, Carole (Spring 2006). "Sarah Waters". ''Lambda Book Report'', pp. 4–5.〕〔Stockwell, Anne (22 June 1999). "Sarah Waters: Tipping the Velvet", ''The Advocate'', p. 124.〕 Waters was drawn to the Victorian era because of the (mis)understandings of what social norms existed during the period. As she stated, "I find it a fascinating period because it feels very close to us, and yet in lots of ways it is utterly strange: many of the things we think we know about it are stereotypes, or simply wrong."〔 Considering herself part of gay and lesbian literary heritage, Waters was influenced by Oscar Wilde, and Chris Hunt, who wrote ''Street Lavender'', an historical novel with gay male themes also set in the Victorian era. She has stated that ''Tipping the Velvet'' is a female version of ''Street Lavender'',〔 with a plot similar to ''My Secret Life'' by "Walter".〔Taylor, Debbie (2004), (‘Sarah Waters’ ), ''MsLexia'' 20, pp. 15–17.〕 Waters pitched ''Tipping the Velvet'' to ten British publishers, but after they all rejected it, she began considering American publishing houses. Although she was picked up quickly by a literary agency, the agent spent almost a year trying to sell the book to a mainstream publisher. By the time ''Tipping the Velvet'' was accepted by Virago Press—one of the ten that had previously passed on the project—Waters had already begun work on her second novel.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Tipping the Velvet」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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