Weighing Up Celibacy
The Fat Virgin of Molly Keane’s Devoted Ladies
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 17820167 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Julyan Oldham (University of Oxford, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 15 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 51-51 |
| Publication date | 2026-03-24 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Humanities (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2076-0787 • E-ISSN: 2076-0787 |
| Publisher | MDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT) |
| DOI | 10.3390/h15040051 |
| OpenAlex | W7140275265 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 14 |
In Molly Keane’s 1934 novel Devoted Ladies, the young Irish character Piggy Browne is dismissed as a “fat, hungry virgin”, an insult that incites the text’s denouement. This article uses the figure of Piggy Browne to juxtapose virginity and fatness in Keane’s writing, asking how fat can inform our understanding of the single Irish woman in Keane. I set up both fat and virginity as relevant concerns to Keane’s work, drawing on a range of her fiction as well as writing about virginity, land, and time. Focussing on Piggy in Devoted Ladies demonstrates how the novel is interested in the emotional lives of women, however satirically. Moreover, ideas of virginity, fat, and hunger become useful ways of thinking about Piggy’s role in the ending of Devoted Ladies. Keane ultimately emphasizes a fall, not a culmination, concluding on a moment of agency, if not progress
Irish · Virginity test · Irish and British Studies · Modernist Literature and Criticism · Samuel Beckett and Modernism
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |