Comedy, Too Fatal Emblem: Anne Damer and Occult Theatricality

Abstract

Sculptor, actress in private theatricals, novelist, executrix of her godfather Horace Walpole, and legatee of Strawberry Hill, Anne Seymour Damer (1749-1828) was also vilified in libellous pam phlet satires as a Whig and a Sapphist. My article explores Damer's figura tion of comedy as a fatal emblem of her life, a life inter pellated by the violent comedy of satirical abuse. Tracing the intricate multimedia landscape that hosts Damer as a figure of sexual scandal from the 1770s to the early 1800s, this essay examines the inter penetration of theatricality, pub licity, and fiction al ity that marks Damer's life and career, as well as her extravagantly reparative capacity, as a skilful manipul..