Explanation of Title
A fingersmith is a petty thief. The novel's protagonist, Sue, makes a living as a fingersmith in London. "Fingersmith" may also refer to someone who has mastered a skill involving the use of his or her fingers. It is also clearly an allusion to female masturbation and sex between women, in a similar vein to the use of pornographic slang in the author's first title "Tipping the Velvet".
Read more about this topic: Fingersmith (novel)
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“Herein is the explanation of the analogies, which exist in all the arts. They are the re-appearance of one mind, working in many materials to many temporary ends. Raphael paints wisdom, Handel sings it, Phidias carves it, Shakspeare writes it, Wren builds it, Columbus sails it, Luther preaches it, Washington arms it, Watt mechanizes it. Painting was called “silent poetry,” and poetry “speaking painting.” The laws of each art are convertible into the laws of every other.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Herein is the explanation of the analogies, which exist in all the arts. They are the re-appearance of one mind, working in many materials to many temporary ends. Raphael paints wisdom, Handel sings it, Phidias carves it, Shakspeare writes it, Wren builds it, Columbus sails it, Luther preaches it, Washington arms it, Watt mechanizes it. Painting was called “silent poetry,” and poetry “speaking painting.” The laws of each art are convertible into the laws of every other.”
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