Literary Crossdressing

[Aileen]

Someone asked if I had heard of the crossdressing in Huckleberry Finn, and the answer is yes. I have. So I thought I would include other examples of crossdressing in literature, and see if anyone else has any to contribute. This is from Pride and Prejudice:

``How nicely we are crammed in!'' cried Lydia. ``I am glad I bought my bonnet, if it is only for the fun of having another bandbox! Well, now let us be quite comfortable and snug, and talk and laugh all the way home. And in the first place, let us hear what has happened to you all, since you went away. Have you seen any pleasant men? Have you had any flirting? I was in great hopes that one of you would have got a husband before you came back. Jane will be quite an old maid soon, I declare. She is almost three and twenty! Lord, how ashamed I should be of not being married before three and twenty! My aunt Philips wants you so to get husbands, you can't think. She says Lizzy had better have taken Mr. Collins; but I do not think there would have been any fun in it. Lord! how I should like to be married before any of you; and then I would chaperon you about to all the balls. Dear me! we had such a good piece of fun the other day at Colonel Foster's. Kitty and me were to spend the day there, and Mrs. Forster promised to have a little dance in the evening (by the bye, Mrs. Forster and me are such friends!); and so she asked the two Harringtons to come, but Harriet was ill, and so Pen was forced to come by herself; and then, what do you think we did? We dressed up Chamberlayne in woman's clothes, on purpose to pass for a lady, -- only think what fun! Not a soul knew of it but Col. and Mrs. Forster, and Kitty and me, except my aunt, for we were forced to borrow one of her gowns; and you cannot imagine how well he looked! When Denny, and Wickham, and Pratt, and two or three more of the men came in, they did not know him in the least. Lord! how I laughed! and so did Mrs. Forster. I thought I should have died. And that made the men suspect something, and then they soon found out what was the matter.''

[christine55]

A very detailed incident in a Japanese prison camp. The prisoners were allowed to do plays for entertainment, of course there were no women in the camp. One of the prisoners had to play a girl and it turned out he had become very set on being a woman. I would be willing to bet from the detail and accuracy of the description that Clavell either was a crossdresser or else knew someone very well who was.
Hugs, Christine

[watts]

Robert Heinlein's I Will Fear No Evil is about a guy that accidentally has his brain transplanted into a female body. Like much of Heinlein's longer works, there is a lot of sex in it, but it's quite a good read (take this with a grain of salt as I LOVE Heinlein).

[windycissy]

Excluding books that feature a crossdresser as the main character, like The Jessica Project (http://snurl.com/jessicaproject), the classic scene in literature - and it's hardly flattering - is in Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye: young Holden is revolted by the sight of a man dressing as a woman in his hotel room.

Windy

[JocelynG]

Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare. Viola disguises herself as a boy in order to protect herself and to obtain employment by Duke Orsino and quickly finds her way (as Cesario, the youth) into his favor; she is then sent to woo the Countess Olivia, much against Viola's will, for she has fallen in love with Count Orsino herself.

[JoanneThomas]

This book, written in 1973 by Thomas Berger, is a fascinating book where women rule the world--the blurb on the book reads--"This is the story of Georgie Cornell, an attractive 29 year old secretary. Georgie goes to work dressed in tailored blouse, pleated skirt and gas mask, dodges the advances of lecherous executives and worries about wrinkles and running mascara. just like a secretary of today--with one difference: Georgie is a man."
I remember reading this when it first came out and wishing I could be Georgie Cornell. It is probably out of print now but looking at it again it strikes a real chord in me.
Thanks for an interesting thread.

Joanne Thomas

[MarinaTwelve200]

Frank Baum(Sp) the guy who wrote the original "Wizzard of OZ" book, also wrote a sequel "RETURN TO OZ" which seemed to foreshadow modern feminisim, among other things. In Return to oz--we see Women dressing and acting as men and building an army of female soldiers---Also there is the primary plot of "Pip" a boy, raised by a witch who helps search for the long missing "Princess Ozma", the only hope for "order" in OZ that is threatened with being torn apart by different factions.

We learn, at the end, that Pip, even unknown to himself, is actually PRINCESS OZMA---she was hidden by the witch, by turning her into the boy Pip---something HE does not remember as it was part of the spell.---He is very reluctant to become Ozma, when this is revealed to him, but he is finally convinced to "do his duty" to save Oz, and permits himself to be changed back into the princess.

"Return to OZ" is quite a remarkable book, considering it was written near the turn of the 20th century.

[Sweet Susan]

Shakespeare is full of crossdressing, though mostly female to male. Interesting, though, in his day, all of the female parts were played by men. So, play attendees would see a man who was playiing a woman crossdress as a man. How insane is old Shakey?

[Helen MC]

There was a series of "Dr Who" away back in the 1960s where the men all wore dresses and Zoe , the Doctor's female assistant, was criticised for wearing "men's clothing" a skirt! She was given a pair of trousers to wear by the shocked citizens. I watched that programme and wished I could have freely and openly worn the lovely dresses the men had in that society, rather than having to wait till my big sister and parents were out and I was home alone to wear Anne's and Mum's dresses and skirts. Thankfully, I could secretly wear their panties all the time and did.

[TVStevie]

There was a series of "Dr Who" away back in the 1960s where the men all wore dresses and Zoe , the Doctor's female assistant, was criticised for wearing "men's clothing" a skirt! She was given a pair of trousers to wear by the shocked citizens.
You're not getting confused with Jamie and his kilt, are you? ;)