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Upright Posture and Gendered Styles of Body Movements in The Mill on the Floss

Class, Monika LU orcid (2023) In Studies in Mobilities, Literature, and Culture p.121-143
Abstract
George Eliot predicates the two principal characters of her second novel, The Mill on the Floss (1860), not on fixed traits but on gendered differences in styles of body movement. This chapter approaches the interplay of medicine and mobility through the lens of the feminist phenomenology of perception, situating Eliot’s configuration of the gendered scripts of posture in the proto-orthopaedic discourse of Victorian disciplinary power. The comparison of the characters’ growth into manhood and womanhood showcases Tom Tulliver’s increasing compliance with correct masculine posture and his sister Maggie’s persistent tomboyism in adulthood. Monika Class contends that Eliot’s realist novel engages critically with Victorian postural standards... (More)
George Eliot predicates the two principal characters of her second novel, The Mill on the Floss (1860), not on fixed traits but on gendered differences in styles of body movement. This chapter approaches the interplay of medicine and mobility through the lens of the feminist phenomenology of perception, situating Eliot’s configuration of the gendered scripts of posture in the proto-orthopaedic discourse of Victorian disciplinary power. The comparison of the characters’ growth into manhood and womanhood showcases Tom Tulliver’s increasing compliance with correct masculine posture and his sister Maggie’s persistent tomboyism in adulthood. Monika Class contends that Eliot’s realist novel engages critically with Victorian postural standards and thus conveys the link of medical and moral norms in a vision towards variable, and even untamed, gender identities. Above all, the configuration of the heroine expands the Victorian repertoire of feminine body movement. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Phenomenology of perception, Gender, Body movement, Orthopaedics, George Eliot, Realist novel, Ricoeur, Merleau-Ponty, Tidal flood, aquatic images
host publication
Medicine and Mobility in Nineteenth-Century British Literature, History, and Culture
series title
Studies in Mobilities, Literature, and Culture
editor
Dinter, Sandra and Schäfer-Althaus, Sarah
pages
23 pages
publisher
Palgrave Macmillan
ISBN
978-3-031-17020-1
978-3-031-17019-5
978-3-031-17022-5
DOI
10.1007/978-3-031-17020-1_6
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
b679dc41-cfb9-45b9-b273-35f4b8c38738
date added to LUP
2023-03-20 21:52:50
date last changed
2023-07-29 03:09:14
@inbook{b679dc41-cfb9-45b9-b273-35f4b8c38738,
  abstract     = {{George Eliot predicates the two principal characters of her second novel, The Mill on the Floss (1860), not on fixed traits but on gendered differences in styles of body movement. This chapter approaches the interplay of medicine and mobility through the lens of the feminist phenomenology of perception, situating Eliot’s configuration of the gendered scripts of posture in the proto-orthopaedic discourse of Victorian disciplinary power. The comparison of the characters’ growth into manhood and womanhood showcases Tom Tulliver’s increasing compliance with correct masculine posture and his sister Maggie’s persistent tomboyism in adulthood. Monika Class contends that Eliot’s realist novel engages critically with Victorian postural standards and thus conveys the link of medical and moral norms in a vision towards variable, and even untamed, gender identities. Above all, the configuration of the heroine expands the Victorian repertoire of feminine body movement.}},
  author       = {{Class, Monika}},
  booktitle    = {{Medicine and Mobility in Nineteenth-Century British Literature, History, and Culture}},
  editor       = {{Dinter, Sandra and Schäfer-Althaus, Sarah}},
  isbn         = {{978-3-031-17020-1}},
  keywords     = {{Phenomenology of perception; Gender; Body movement; Orthopaedics; George Eliot; Realist novel; Ricoeur; Merleau-Ponty; Tidal flood; aquatic images}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{03}},
  pages        = {{121--143}},
  publisher    = {{Palgrave Macmillan}},
  series       = {{Studies in Mobilities, Literature, and Culture}},
  title        = {{Upright Posture and Gendered Styles of Body Movements in The Mill on the Floss}},
  url          = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/140967942/Class_Monika_Upright_Posture_and_Gendered_Styles_of_Body_Movements_in_The_Mill_on_the_Floss.pdf}},
  doi          = {{10.1007/978-3-031-17020-1_6}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}