If you’ve ever had the urge to respond to the absurdities of your reality with complete carnage, “Victorian Psycho” by Virginia Feito is the perfect book for you. Even if your impulses are less than violent, the elegantly written prose and intriguing psyche of protagonist Winifred Notty will leave you craving to see her world in all its inglorious depravity. The novel follows Miss Notty beginning her service as a governess at Ensor House. While tutoring the two spoiled Pounds children, Drusilla and Andrew, and tolerating the abuses of Mr. and Mrs. Pounds, she finds it progressively more difficult to contain her inner darkness, which she occasionally refers to as “Fred.” Readers be warned, this novel is not for the faint of heart. The first chapter explains that “in three months everyone in this house will be dead.” At just over 200 pages, the book rapidly uncovers Miss Notty’s sordid past while guiding readers through a vortex of sex, gore and malice before leading to the ultimate conclusion. Although the extreme violence feels overwhelming at times, Feito’s playful writing transforms the shocking carnage into an amusing catharsis rather than a tragedy.
To achieve this end, the reader is first made Miss Notty’s co-conspirator through direct addresses: “I wink at you, dear reader, upon this, our first introduction.” The word “wink” describes the tone of the entire novel — it reads as a lighthearted inside joke. For example, the names of the characters correspond to an aspect of their identity: Miss “Notty” is both “knotty” and “naughty,” the “Pounds” family is rich, and Miss “Manners” and Mr. “Fancey” are affluent. Because of the absurdity of every character having a name which reflects their defining characteristics, no character feels like a real person. This lack of relatability, much like Miss Notty’s psychopathy, creates an emotional distance that renders empathy for other characters impossible.
Despite being an extreme personality, Miss Notty’s psychopathy and unreliability as a narrator make her delightful. While the outcome of the story is obvious and chapter titles — such as “In Which I Arrive at Ensor House” — describe main plot points, Miss Notty reaches every foregone conclusion in a startlingly novel way. The detailed descriptions of her perceptions coupled with the absurdity of her behavior make her psyche tangible and intriguing. Corpses talk just as the living do, a mouthful of food is as graphic as a mouthful of blood and Miss Notty suddenly finds herself holding a weapon with no context for how she got it. In addition to increasing the shock factor of the book, the novelty of her actions distracts from their horror, encouraging readers to eagerly anticipate her future crimes if only to see how she commits them.
Upon reading something shocking, one might assume it serves a concrete political goal. Feito’s writing, however, does not make any obvious political statement. Instead, the story focuses on arguably the most significant quality of the Victorian era: morbidity. Although the one-paragraph prologue begins with the words, “Death everywhere,” the carnage does not limit itself to death alone. The epigraph by Charles Darwin puts it best: “Every thing is in flames.” Even inanimate objects and ideologies which cannot die are wounded, destroyed and subverted. Every character and every societal norm is detestable, so they cannot be mourned; yet, Feito suggests no alternative to be built from the ashes. Despite Miss Notty targeting her wealthy employers, this is not a pro-worker tale, as even lower class characters are irritating, foolish and brutally murdered. Their deaths are not romantic either — no heroes are martyred, instead nuisances are massacred. Similarly, Miss Notty is not a stereotypically feminist hero reclaiming power. Instead, she teaches little girls that “they can aspire to kill, too,” suggesting that the destruction of others at cost to oneself is the only avenue to power available to Victorian women. In the face of such horror, Ensor House becomes a representation of all that is corrupt in the world, and its destruction serves as a catharsis for anyone tired of coping with a repugnant reality they are incapable of remedying. Without moral high ground, readers have no choice but to revel in comical monstrosity right along with Miss Notty.
The commercial appeal of “Victorian Psycho” was acknowledged when A24 bought film rights prior to the novel’s publishing earlier this year. The film, which will begin production this month, is set to star Margaret Qualley and Thomasin McKenzie, with the screenplay written by Feito herself. For anyone interested in examining Victorian history, exploring the depths of human depravity or reading a ghastly rendition of the “The Twelve Days of Christmas,” “Victorian Psycho” is a must-read.
