No Cover Image

Journal article 604 views 93 downloads

Heterotopic Proliferation in E. S. Thomson’s Jem Flockhart Series

Marie-luise Kohlke Orcid Logo

Humanities, Volume: 11, Issue: 1, Pages: 15 - 18

Swansea University Author: Marie-luise Kohlke Orcid Logo

  • 59170.pdf

    PDF | Version of Record

    © 2022 by the author. This is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license

    Download (348.95KB)

Check full text

DOI (Published version): 10.3390/h11010015

Abstract

This article explores the convergence, inversion, and collapse of heterotopic spaces in E. S. Thomson’s neo-Victorian Jem Flockhart series about a cross-dressing female apothecary in mid-nineteenth-century London. The eponymous first-person narrator becomes embroiled in the detection of horrific mur...

Full description

Published in: Humanities
ISSN: 2076-0787
Published: MDPI AG 2022
Online Access: Check full text

URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa59170
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
first_indexed 2022-01-13T11:58:07Z
last_indexed 2022-01-19T04:29:02Z
id cronfa59170
recordtype SURis
fullrecord <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?><rfc1807 xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"><bib-version>v2</bib-version><id>59170</id><entry>2022-01-13</entry><title>Heterotopic Proliferation in E. S. Thomson’s Jem Flockhart Series</title><swanseaauthors><author><sid>789e6b628cdc4d0fc1c66eff6654c610</sid><ORCID>0000-0003-1475-7218</ORCID><firstname>Marie-luise</firstname><surname>Kohlke</surname><name>Marie-luise Kohlke</name><active>true</active><ethesisStudent>false</ethesisStudent></author></swanseaauthors><date>2022-01-13</date><deptcode>AELC</deptcode><abstract>This article explores the convergence, inversion, and collapse of heterotopic spaces in E. S. Thomson’s neo-Victorian Jem Flockhart series about a cross-dressing female apothecary in mid-nineteenth-century London. The eponymous first-person narrator becomes embroiled in the detection of horrific murder cases, with the action traversing a wide range of Michel Foucault’s exemplary Other spaces, including hospitals, graveyards, brothels, prisons, asylums, and colonies, with the series substituting the garden for Foucault’s ship as the paradigmatic heterotopia. These myriad juxtaposed sites, which facilitate divergence from societal norms while seemingly sequestering forms of alterity and resistance, repeatedly merge into one another in Thomson’s novels, destabilising distinct kinds of heterotopias and heterotopic functions. Jem’s doubled queerness as a cross-dressing lesbian beloved by their Watsonean side-kick, the junior architect William Quartermain, complicates the protagonist’s role in helping readers negotiate the re-imagined Victorian metropolis and its unequal power structures. Simultaneously defending/reaffirming and contesting/subverting the status quo, Jem’s body itself becomes a microcosmic heterotopia, problematising the elision of agency in Foucault’s conceptualisation of the term. The proliferation of heterotopias in Thomson’s series suggests that neo-Victorian fiction reconfigures the nineteenth century into a vast network of confining, contested, and liberating Other spaces.</abstract><type>Journal Article</type><journal>Humanities</journal><volume>11</volume><journalNumber>1</journalNumber><paginationStart>15</paginationStart><paginationEnd>18</paginationEnd><publisher>MDPI AG</publisher><placeOfPublication/><isbnPrint/><isbnElectronic/><issnPrint/><issnElectronic>2076-0787</issnElectronic><keywords>agency; garden; gender; heterotopia; Jem Flockhart series; Michel Foucault; Otherness;E. S. Thomson</keywords><publishedDay>13</publishedDay><publishedMonth>1</publishedMonth><publishedYear>2022</publishedYear><publishedDate>2022-01-13</publishedDate><doi>10.3390/h11010015</doi><url/><notes/><college>COLLEGE NANME</college><department>English Literature</department><CollegeCode>COLLEGE CODE</CollegeCode><DepartmentCode>AELC</DepartmentCode><institution>Swansea University</institution><apcterm>Not Required</apcterm><funders>N/A</funders><projectreference/><lastEdited>2023-12-22T11:18:36.1260478</lastEdited><Created>2022-01-13T11:49:17.5376134</Created><path><level id="1">Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences</level><level id="2">School of Culture and Communication - English Literature, Creative Writing</level></path><authors><author><firstname>Marie-luise</firstname><surname>Kohlke</surname><orcid>0000-0003-1475-7218</orcid><order>1</order></author></authors><documents><document><filename>59170__22167__26fe6baa6b404bfa95497e21d9af025d.pdf</filename><originalFilename>59170.pdf</originalFilename><uploaded>2022-01-18T11:28:20.2395538</uploaded><type>Output</type><contentLength>357322</contentLength><contentType>application/pdf</contentType><version>Version of Record</version><cronfaStatus>true</cronfaStatus><documentNotes>© 2022 by the author. This is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license</documentNotes><copyrightCorrect>true</copyrightCorrect><language>eng</language><licence>https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/</licence></document></documents><OutputDurs/></rfc1807>
spelling v2 59170 2022-01-13 Heterotopic Proliferation in E. S. Thomson’s Jem Flockhart Series 789e6b628cdc4d0fc1c66eff6654c610 0000-0003-1475-7218 Marie-luise Kohlke Marie-luise Kohlke true false 2022-01-13 AELC This article explores the convergence, inversion, and collapse of heterotopic spaces in E. S. Thomson’s neo-Victorian Jem Flockhart series about a cross-dressing female apothecary in mid-nineteenth-century London. The eponymous first-person narrator becomes embroiled in the detection of horrific murder cases, with the action traversing a wide range of Michel Foucault’s exemplary Other spaces, including hospitals, graveyards, brothels, prisons, asylums, and colonies, with the series substituting the garden for Foucault’s ship as the paradigmatic heterotopia. These myriad juxtaposed sites, which facilitate divergence from societal norms while seemingly sequestering forms of alterity and resistance, repeatedly merge into one another in Thomson’s novels, destabilising distinct kinds of heterotopias and heterotopic functions. Jem’s doubled queerness as a cross-dressing lesbian beloved by their Watsonean side-kick, the junior architect William Quartermain, complicates the protagonist’s role in helping readers negotiate the re-imagined Victorian metropolis and its unequal power structures. Simultaneously defending/reaffirming and contesting/subverting the status quo, Jem’s body itself becomes a microcosmic heterotopia, problematising the elision of agency in Foucault’s conceptualisation of the term. The proliferation of heterotopias in Thomson’s series suggests that neo-Victorian fiction reconfigures the nineteenth century into a vast network of confining, contested, and liberating Other spaces. Journal Article Humanities 11 1 15 18 MDPI AG 2076-0787 agency; garden; gender; heterotopia; Jem Flockhart series; Michel Foucault; Otherness;E. S. Thomson 13 1 2022 2022-01-13 10.3390/h11010015 COLLEGE NANME English Literature COLLEGE CODE AELC Swansea University Not Required N/A 2023-12-22T11:18:36.1260478 2022-01-13T11:49:17.5376134 Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences School of Culture and Communication - English Literature, Creative Writing Marie-luise Kohlke 0000-0003-1475-7218 1 59170__22167__26fe6baa6b404bfa95497e21d9af025d.pdf 59170.pdf 2022-01-18T11:28:20.2395538 Output 357322 application/pdf Version of Record true © 2022 by the author. This is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license true eng https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
title Heterotopic Proliferation in E. S. Thomson’s Jem Flockhart Series
spellingShingle Heterotopic Proliferation in E. S. Thomson’s Jem Flockhart Series
Marie-luise Kohlke
title_short Heterotopic Proliferation in E. S. Thomson’s Jem Flockhart Series
title_full Heterotopic Proliferation in E. S. Thomson’s Jem Flockhart Series
title_fullStr Heterotopic Proliferation in E. S. Thomson’s Jem Flockhart Series
title_full_unstemmed Heterotopic Proliferation in E. S. Thomson’s Jem Flockhart Series
title_sort Heterotopic Proliferation in E. S. Thomson’s Jem Flockhart Series
author_id_str_mv 789e6b628cdc4d0fc1c66eff6654c610
author_id_fullname_str_mv 789e6b628cdc4d0fc1c66eff6654c610_***_Marie-luise Kohlke
author Marie-luise Kohlke
author2 Marie-luise Kohlke
format Journal article
container_title Humanities
container_volume 11
container_issue 1
container_start_page 15
publishDate 2022
institution Swansea University
issn 2076-0787
doi_str_mv 10.3390/h11010015
publisher MDPI AG
college_str Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
hierarchytype
hierarchy_top_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
department_str School of Culture and Communication - English Literature, Creative Writing{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences{{{_:::_}}}School of Culture and Communication - English Literature, Creative Writing
document_store_str 1
active_str 0
description This article explores the convergence, inversion, and collapse of heterotopic spaces in E. S. Thomson’s neo-Victorian Jem Flockhart series about a cross-dressing female apothecary in mid-nineteenth-century London. The eponymous first-person narrator becomes embroiled in the detection of horrific murder cases, with the action traversing a wide range of Michel Foucault’s exemplary Other spaces, including hospitals, graveyards, brothels, prisons, asylums, and colonies, with the series substituting the garden for Foucault’s ship as the paradigmatic heterotopia. These myriad juxtaposed sites, which facilitate divergence from societal norms while seemingly sequestering forms of alterity and resistance, repeatedly merge into one another in Thomson’s novels, destabilising distinct kinds of heterotopias and heterotopic functions. Jem’s doubled queerness as a cross-dressing lesbian beloved by their Watsonean side-kick, the junior architect William Quartermain, complicates the protagonist’s role in helping readers negotiate the re-imagined Victorian metropolis and its unequal power structures. Simultaneously defending/reaffirming and contesting/subverting the status quo, Jem’s body itself becomes a microcosmic heterotopia, problematising the elision of agency in Foucault’s conceptualisation of the term. The proliferation of heterotopias in Thomson’s series suggests that neo-Victorian fiction reconfigures the nineteenth century into a vast network of confining, contested, and liberating Other spaces.
published_date 2022-01-13T11:18:37Z
_version_ 1785980693681012736
score 11.017797