Of Slugs and Wo/men: Permeated and Penetrated Boundaries in Karen Duve's Regenroman
This article argues that Karen Duve's Regenroman (1999) presents us with two notions of boundary transgression associated with gender opposition. First, violations of boundaries in the form of penetration are constitutive of patriarchal male subjectivity. Second, water and the permeation of bou...
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| Published in: | The Modern language review 2020-07, Vol.115 (3), p.665 |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | eng |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | Get full text |
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| Summary: | This article argues that Karen Duve's Regenroman (1999) presents us with two notions of boundary transgression associated with gender opposition. First, violations of boundaries in the form of penetration are constitutive of patriarchal male subjectivity. Second, water and the permeation of boundaries by amorphous entities threaten to dissolve the boundaries of this masculine subject. Using Julia Kristeva, I argue that the latter is a case of abjection. Invisible abject acts can serve to stabilize the distinction between male subject and objectivized female. The ironic narration makes the reader aware of abjection and the fraught construction of binaries. |
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| ISSN: | 0026-7937 2222-4319 |