Upright Posture and Gendered Styles of Body Movements in The Mill on the Floss
(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:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/b679dc41-cfb9-45b9-b273-35f4b8c38738
- author
- Class, Monika LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2023-03-16
- 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}}, }