Emotional void and identity fragmentation: madness and narcissism in “Lady Audley's Secret” by Mary Elizabeth Braddon (1862).

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.33919/esnbu.25.1.7

Keywords:

Bigamy, Braddon, Fake Identity, Lady Audley’s Secret, Madness, Narcissistic Personality

Abstract

This research aims at investigating the psychological dimension of the protagonist Lady Audley on the grounds of the dialectic of alleged madness and assumed narcissistic personality disorder related to psychoanalytic literary methodology and criticism. In the light of the first Freudian studies of the first decade of the twentieth century and the subsequent outcomes, we attempt the hypothesis of female identity construction onto typically narcissistic features, in the perspective of Freud’s unconscious anticipated by Mary Elizabeth Braddon in her prose generating not only a sensation novel but also an innovative psychological plot depicting the double nature of Victorian society from the perspective of a woman labeled as insane.

Author Biography

Paolo Lantieri, Universidad Católica San Antonio de Murcia

Paolo Lantieri holds an MA in English Literature and a second MA in Translation Studies from Tor Vergata University of Rome, Italy. Previously professor on contract of English language and translation at La Sapienza and Unicusano Universities of Rome for over 8 years and currently doctoral candidate at Ucam University, Murcia (Spain) where he is working on his dissertation on the representation of madness in "Lady Audley's Secret" by Mary Elizabeth Braddon within Victorian literature and the intersection of psychology and society. His other research interests include Victorian literature, psychoanalytic literary criticism, gender studies and English for Special Purposes – ESP.

References

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Kernberg, O. (1975). Borderline conditions and pathological narcissism. Jason Aronson.

Lee, L. (2011). “Lady Audley’s Secret: How does she do It? Sensation fiction’s technologically minded villainesses”. A companion to sensation fiction. Blackwell Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781444342239.ch10 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/9781444342239.ch10

Lowen, A. (1984). Narcissism: Denial of the true self. Macmillan Publishing.

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Published

2025-06-18

How to Cite

Lantieri, P. (2025). Emotional void and identity fragmentation: madness and narcissism in “Lady Audley’s Secret” by Mary Elizabeth Braddon (1862). English Studies at NBU, 11(1), 123–140. https://doi.org/10.33919/esnbu.25.1.7

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Section

Doctoral Section