SHYAMALA'S LETTER
May 8, 1915/2019
Dear Maud,
You look stunning! I
wish I could pull off an outfit like that! Wherever did you get it
from? Part harlot, part orientalist imagination…you
are a master of fulfilling people’s fantasies. And what a femme fatale. I mean
I’m a femme and I feel kind of fatal when I think of you carrying the severed
head of John the Baptist on a platter…did you really kiss it? Well, I
suppose I would kiss it too if it were the head of patriarchy that I could
sever and kiss goodbye.
I keep thinking of all
these men swooning after you and your spectacular performance of Salome -
I suppose they prefer beheading to castration but I really don’t understand the
hype around Salome. The craze around you on the other hand is another
story, … though I’ve heard that you were not into men,
but lavish your attentions on your female secretary?
So why do you do it
then – cater to their fantasies? Are you in it for the money, for the fame? Did
you feel the raw seductive power of your bare skin? The power to behead men? Or
do you feel liberated wearing nothing but pearls? I always thought pearls
were for the conservative type, but no, you brought them back around, like the
liberal woman that you are. Always breaking stereotypes aren’t you? Breaking
them and making them!
Well, I know you’re
busy suing against the “Cult of the Clitoris” defamation. But, I
do hope you write back. Maybe we could get to know each other better. I’ve
heard you’ve toured India and have an interest in Indian dance. I could
help with that.
See you in the
theater,
Shyamala
BABLI'S LETTER
Darling Maudie,
So, how was the garden party? I
am sure you were the perfect hostess, just the quality Verna adores in you- and
I am sure you looked stunning.
I wonder how it felt for you to
host The Ladies Committee (...) for (the) Relief of Jewish Children from
Germany. I mean you lived in Germany – and you know German, right? Of
course you were there much earlier, even before the Weimar Republic, when Berlin
was just awakening into its anarchist and subversive glory of the early 20th
century. When the horrible times to come could not be foreseen yet. Do you
remember the amazing avant-garde movements and artists and subversive political
cabarets? I wonder- did you ever meet Anita Berber?
And wasn’t it in Berlin that you
became a ‘barefoot dancer’, and where you saw the production of Wilde’s Salomé
by Max Reinhardt which inspired your Visions of Salomé? Berlin is
all over your career! I guess MP Billing did his homework before he linked your
anarchist sexuality to Germany.
I mean accusing you of being a
German-sympathizer, a sadist AND a lesbian all in one breath?
True, you really were a femme
fatale. Bold. And lesbian. And it looks like you were really obsessed
with pearls. To be frank – I kind of hate pearls. Well most pearls. Your style
really isn’t my cup of tea.
But I digress. Where were we? Oh
yes, the trial.
Tell me, what were you thinking
denying your own identity and your lover by suing Billing for defamation? And
what was that about Lord Douglas testifying against you for Billing’s case? I
mean, wasn’t he Wilde’s lover? So much for queer solidarity – between the
ways you treated Verna and Douglas treated you – so disappointing. One could
never take queer solidarity for granted I guess.
Well, goes to show that not every
queer icon is to be admired automatically. So, why do I even write to you, a
queer ancestor I cannot respect?
Sandra
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