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Janet Lee Janet Lee i(A96585 works by)
Gender: Female
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Works By

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1 “An Independent Little Sausage” : Sexual Agency and Desire On Dearborn Street Janet Lee , 2021 single work criticism
— Appears in: Women's Writing , February vol. 28 no. 1 2021; (p. 59-74) 'In the teeming public space of modern U.S. cities at the end of the long nineteenth century, New Women carved out a place for themselves and navigated the opportunities and constraints associated with love and vocation on the eve of war. I address these representations, and focus on sexual agency and desire through the lens of Australian feminist Stella Miles Franklin's New Woman novel, On Dearborn Street. I examine Franklin's portrayals of a nuanced and somewhat contradictory sexual self-determination influenced by her personal and political life in Chicago, and emphasise the ways the novel resists romance narratives by refusing the choice between marriage and independence.' (Publication abstract)
1 1 y separately published work icon Fallen Among Reformers : Miles Franklin, Modernity, and the New Woman Janet Lee , Sydney : Sydney University Press , 2020 18830764 2020 multi chapter work criticism biography

'Fallen Among Reformers focuses on Stella Miles Franklin's New Woman protest literature written during her time in Chicago with the National Women's Trade Union League (1906-1915). This time away from literary pursuits enriched Franklin's literary productivity and provided a feminist social justice ethics, which shaped her writing.

'Close readings of Franklin's (mostly unpublished) short stories, plays, and novels contextualises them in the personal politics of her everyday life and historicises them in the socio-economic and literary realities of early twentieth century Australia and United States: themes embedded in broader cultural patterns of socialism, pacifism, and feminism.' (Publication summary) 
1 What I’m Reading Janet Lee , 2018 single work column
— Appears in: Meanjin Online 2018;
1 y separately published work icon The Killing of Louisa Janet Lee , St Lucia : University of Queensland Press , 2018 15444178 2018 single work novel historical fiction crime

To lose one husband may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like murder.

'In New South Wales in 1888, Louisa Collins was sentenced to hang after being tried multiple times for the alleged murders of her two husbands. The testimony of her young daughter helped to decide her fate.

'This clever and compelling novel recreates Louisa’s time in her Darlinghurst prison cell as she reflects on her life and on the grief and loss that delivered her to this place. Despite difficult marriages, financial hardship and the deaths of several children, she remains resilient and determined to have her own identity.

'But as she faces her final days, will Louisa confess to her crimes? Or is an innocent woman about to be hanged?'   (Publication summary)
1 Rogue Wave i "There is no clock", Janet Lee , 2018 single work poetry
— Appears in: Transnational Literature , December vol. 11 no. 1 2018;
1 Practising i "She is in her bedroom practising piano. On the wall above the piano is the picture that", Janet Lee , 2018 single work poetry
— Appears in: Transnational Literature , December vol. 11 no. 1 2018;
1 'Living in Sin' : Money and Morals in 'Virtue', a Play by Stella Miles Franklin Janet Lee , 2016 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australian Literary Studies , 16 November vol. 31 no. 5 2016;

'This paper revives Stella Miles Franklin’s 1917 play, ‘Virtue’, a long-forgotten protest drama about economic servitude, sexual desire, and the perils of prostitution. I discuss the ways Franklin uses ‘Virtue’ to first, protest the perils of female economic vulnerability that lead working women into liaisons with men, and second, to illustrate the dangerous promiscuities associated with modern sex radical solutions to women’s sexual subordination that enslave rather than liberate. I suggest Franklin’s feminist politics on the cusp between New Womanist claims challenging sexual codes and those endorsing the sexual morality of a previous generation ideally positioned her to produce a new realism gesturing towards a modernist literary aesthetic in its economic critique of sexual expressions masquerading as ‘freedom’.'

Source: Abstract.
1 My Mourning Janet Lee , 2016 single work prose
— Appears in: Grieve : Stories and Poems for Grief Awareness Month 2016 2016;
1 Still Janet Lee , 2016 single work single work prose
— Appears in: Grieve : Stories and Poems for Grief Awareness Month 2016 2016;
1 How Miles Franklin 'Queered a Queer's Party' Janet Lee , 2014 single work criticism
— Appears in: Hecate , vol. 39 no. 1/2 2014; (p. 64-71)

'As "paradoxical as a platypus"; a combination of "Mrs Pankhurst and Mary Poppins"; a vivaciously "fascinating little rascal" (Roe 533, 568, 172). Such endearments by colleagues, friends, and suitors alike of the effusive Stella Miles Franklin allude to the intriguing puzzles associated with her life and works. "secretive and outspoken; loyal in friendship yet prickly and even at times malicious," she has been described as "gregarious, witty and deeply depressive" (Martin 89.1). "This great bag of words" (Roe 127), to coin Franklin's own phrase, describes the enigma that is Miles. Indeed, describing the irrepressible Franklin reminds me of a saying from my childhood, "there's nowt as queer as folk." And Franklin was as oddly queer as they come: a quirky thinker and compulsive writer who left behind a bewildering quagmire of stories, novels and plays, some in fragments, some scrawled over in indecipherable scribbles, and some edited, carefully bound, and yet still roundly rejected by publishers.'

Source: Abstract.
1 “Aunt Sophie Smashes a Triangle” Stella Miles Franklin and the 1913 Adultery Narratives Janet Lee , 2013 single work criticism
— Appears in: Journal of Australian Studies , 1 June vol. 37 no. 2 2013; (p. 225-242) 'Nineteen thirteen was an extraordinary year for Stella Miles Franklin. Alongside her hectic schedule with the National Women's Trade Union League in Chicago, Franklin worked on a variety of manuscripts, including the suffrage play “Aunt Sophie Smashes a Triangle”. I focus on this play about male adultery, contextualising it in her personal relationships and intellectual life, especially in the ways Franklin's interest in social purity, feminism, and the influence of Charlotte Perkins Gilman coincided with moral movements abounding in Chicago during 1913. Energised by the progressive literary endeavours of the period, Franklin makes three important points in this protest play about male adultery that include: the degeneracy of masculinity that leads to male susceptibility for adultery, the dangers of domesticity that help explain male infidelity, and the necessity of women's economic independence and solidarity to survive the realities of male adultery in society. In this latter claim, Franklin subverts the polarisation of wife and mistress and presents women as allies united in resisting male sexual transgressions.' (Source: Author's abstract)
1 ‘The Waiter Speaks’ : Stella Miles Franklin and the Chicago Garment Workers' Strike, 1910–1911 Janet Lee , 2011 single work criticism
— Appears in: Women's Studies International Forum , July-August vol. 34 no. 4 2011; (p. 290-301) 'This paper focuses on Australian feminist novelist Stella Miles Franklin's unpublished one-act play 'The Waiter Speaks', previously unremarked by Franklin scholars. Written during Franklin's work as secretary for the National Women's Trade Union League, the play addresses the 1910-1911 Chicago garment workers' strike, a massive conflict that shaped union history through its precedent for arbitration and a female leadership that crossed class and ethnic lines. Franklin was in charge of League publicity for the strike and provided commentary on the conflict through the League's journal Life and Labor. Such experiences provided narrative authority for her protest play that sought to educate and provide a 'call to arms'. The paper contributes to U.S. women's history and Australian literary studies by giving voice to this long-forgotten play of a notable feminist author, contextualising it in labour history and in the literary traditions that shaped Franklin's writing during this period.' (Editor's abstract)
1 Marriage 'Among the Murkans' Janet Lee , 2011 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australian Feminist Studies , December vol. 26 no. 70 2011; (p. 469-483) 'Stella Miles Franklin (1879-1954) is best known for contributions to a uniquely Australian literary tradition. However, during her American years (1906-1915) when she worked in Chicago with the National Women's Trade Union League, Franklin wrote much unpublished fiction in the New Woman literary genre common to early-twentieth-century US women's traditions. This paper focuses on two such little-known unpublished stories: 'Uncle Robert's Wedding Present' (1908) and 'Teaching Him' (1909), discussing ways their entanglements with questions of marriage and economics are grounded in Franklin's work and personal life and in the intellectual influences that shaped her writing.' (p. 469)
1 Miles Franklin and 'The Survivors' Janet Lee , 2011 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australian Literary Studies , May vol. 26 no. 1 2011; (p. 83-93)
1 1 Miles Franklin on American Manhood and White Slavery : The Case of 'Red Cross Nurse' Janet Lee , 2007 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australian Literary Studies , May vol. 23 no. 1 2007; (p. 36-48) Discusses gender relations and fears about 'the white slave trade' in Miles Franklin's unpublished novel.
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