Help me locate this Victorian pulp fiction!
February 10, 2011 9:23 PM   Subscribe

Another book-locating question: help me locate this Victorian pulp fiction!

I remember reading about this book on someone's blog, possibly a library or history blog: they'd found a neat old pulp fiction book (maybe while working in a library or archive) and described it, and I'd like to find the book or the description again.

I'm pretty sure the title is something like "The Fastest Girl in the World", though Googling isn't bringing up anything. It's an older book (Victorian or very early 20th century, like before 1910), with an illustrated cover or frontpiece showing an insouciant young lady dressed in Victorian men's clothes. The book was about a "fast" (in the bold, racy sense) young woman who does everything a man does and better, with the young woman treated not as abnormal, but as the envy of both men and women (I don't think it was intended as erotica, though I could be wrong).

I'd like to find the book's title or, preferably, the/an online description of its contents. I'm remembering it as a really unusually accepting instance of crossgendering for that time period. Thanks!
posted by pavane to Media & Arts (4 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
Best answer: Perhaps you should email the blogger "The Little Professor". She specialises in Victorian literature, and might be able to help you solve this puzzle!
posted by lollusc at 11:05 PM on February 10, 2011


Best answer: Is it The Fastest Girl in New York? The description seems like a very close match.
posted by Monsieur Caution at 2:29 AM on February 11, 2011 [2 favorites]


I am pretty sure that Monsieur Caution is correct.

The protagonist of that book isn't someone who is genderqueer, though; she's more of a George Sand type who adopts men's clothing as a gesture of defiance to social norms.
posted by Sidhedevil at 10:41 AM on February 11, 2011


Response by poster: That is it. Thank you!
posted by pavane at 6:13 PM on February 11, 2011


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