Swimming with the Trouble : Queer Hydrofeminism and the Sea Cure in Deborah Levy's Hot Milk (2016)
(2026) In Ecozon@ 17(1). p.103-119- Abstract
- Deborah Levy’s salty, ruminative novel Hot Milk (2016) follows a young woman, Sofia, as she travels from England to Almería, Spain in search of a cure for her mother Rose’s many ailments. Sofia begins swimming in the Mediterranean, where she is repeatedly stung by medusas who have, she learns, grown abundant from overfishing (3). These medusas sting her “into desire” (72) and into a queer sexual awakening, acting not only as material agents but also as symbolic, rebellious creatures that recall the monstrous Gorgon of Hélène Cixous’s “The Laugh of the Medusa” (1976), which is excerpted in the novel’s epigraph. In this essay, I argue that Hot Milk looks back to a cultural and literary tradition of writing about the “sea cure,” but with a... (More)
- Deborah Levy’s salty, ruminative novel Hot Milk (2016) follows a young woman, Sofia, as she travels from England to Almería, Spain in search of a cure for her mother Rose’s many ailments. Sofia begins swimming in the Mediterranean, where she is repeatedly stung by medusas who have, she learns, grown abundant from overfishing (3). These medusas sting her “into desire” (72) and into a queer sexual awakening, acting not only as material agents but also as symbolic, rebellious creatures that recall the monstrous Gorgon of Hélène Cixous’s “The Laugh of the Medusa” (1976), which is excerpted in the novel’s epigraph. In this essay, I argue that Hot Milk looks back to a cultural and literary tradition of writing about the “sea cure,” but with a key ecological twist: what happens to the sea cure when the ocean itself is sick? Thick with medusas, polluted by gasoline spills, and flanked by dunes of cement powder (23,167), the Mediterranean acts not as a salubrious backdrop for Rose’s healing, but rather as a dynamic force that interacts with the bodies of Sofia and her lovers Ingrid and Juan as they swim in its waters and that, like the characters of the novel, is marked by its own ailments and afflictions. Considering this, I argue, expands our understanding of “sickness” or impairment as a designation and pathologization that flows across both human and nonhuman worlds in Hot Milk. In this way, the novel troubles an idealized cultural and literary trope of the restorative seaside by depicting, instead, watery communities of both human and marine life reckoning with anthropogenic harm. (Less)
- Abstract (Swedish)
- Abstract in Spanish:
La picantey redlexiva novela Hot Milk(Leche caliente, 2016) de Deborah Levy sigue a una joven, Sofı́a, que viaja de Inglaterra a Almerı́a (España) en busca de una cura para las numerosas dolencias de su madre, Rosa. Sofı́a comienza a nadar en el Mediterráneo, donde lepicanrepetidamente medusas que, según descubre, han aumentado de forma abundantedebido a la sobrepesca (3). Estas medusas la pican “en el deseo” (72) y en un despertar sexual queer, actuando no sólo como agentes materiales, sino también como criaturas simbólicas y rebeldes que recuerdan a la monstruosa Gorgona de “La risa de la Medusa” (1976) de Hélène Cixous, que se citaen el epı́grafe de la novela. En este ensayo, sostengo que Hot Milkse... (More) - Abstract in Spanish:
La picantey redlexiva novela Hot Milk(Leche caliente, 2016) de Deborah Levy sigue a una joven, Sofı́a, que viaja de Inglaterra a Almerı́a (España) en busca de una cura para las numerosas dolencias de su madre, Rosa. Sofı́a comienza a nadar en el Mediterráneo, donde lepicanrepetidamente medusas que, según descubre, han aumentado de forma abundantedebido a la sobrepesca (3). Estas medusas la pican “en el deseo” (72) y en un despertar sexual queer, actuando no sólo como agentes materiales, sino también como criaturas simbólicas y rebeldes que recuerdan a la monstruosa Gorgona de “La risa de la Medusa” (1976) de Hélène Cixous, que se citaen el epı́grafe de la novela. En este ensayo, sostengo que Hot Milkse remonta a una tradición cultural y literaria de escribir sobre la “cura del mar,” pero con un giro ecológico clave: ¿qué ocurre con la cura del mar cuando el propio océano está enfermo? Llenode medusas, contaminado por vertidos de gasolina y dlanqueado por dunas de polvo de cemento (23,167), el Mediterráneo no actúa como un salubre telón de fondo para la curación de Rosa, sino más bien como una fuerza dinámica que interactúa con los cuerpos de Sofı́a y de sus amantes Ingrid y Juan mientras nadan ensus aguas y que, al igual que los personajes de la novela, está marcado por sus propias dolencias y adlicciones. Sostengo que tener esto en cuentaamplı́a nuestra comprensión de la ”enfermedad”o la discapacidad como una designación y patologización que dluye tanto por el mundo humano como por el más quehumano en Hot Milk. De este modo, la novela pone en tela de juicio un tropo cultural y literario idealizado de la costa reparadora, describiendo, en su lugar, comunidades acuáticas de vida humana y marina que se enfrentan al daño antropogénico. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/c25c5126-8e37-496b-82b1-9b41bcc2fdda
- author
- Barrow, Barbara LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2026-04-30
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Blue humanities, hydrofeminism, queer ecology, sea cure, Hot Milk, jellyfish, becoming-animal
- in
- Ecozon@
- volume
- 17
- issue
- 1
- pages
- 103 - 119
- DOI
- 10.37536/ECOZONA.2026.17.1.5879
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- c25c5126-8e37-496b-82b1-9b41bcc2fdda
- date added to LUP
- 2026-05-08 12:39:53
- date last changed
- 2026-05-26 14:48:16
@article{c25c5126-8e37-496b-82b1-9b41bcc2fdda,
abstract = {{Deborah Levy’s salty, ruminative novel Hot Milk (2016) follows a young woman, Sofia, as she travels from England to Almería, Spain in search of a cure for her mother Rose’s many ailments. Sofia begins swimming in the Mediterranean, where she is repeatedly stung by medusas who have, she learns, grown abundant from overfishing (3). These medusas sting her “into desire” (72) and into a queer sexual awakening, acting not only as material agents but also as symbolic, rebellious creatures that recall the monstrous Gorgon of Hélène Cixous’s “The Laugh of the Medusa” (1976), which is excerpted in the novel’s epigraph. In this essay, I argue that Hot Milk looks back to a cultural and literary tradition of writing about the “sea cure,” but with a key ecological twist: what happens to the sea cure when the ocean itself is sick? Thick with medusas, polluted by gasoline spills, and flanked by dunes of cement powder (23,167), the Mediterranean acts not as a salubrious backdrop for Rose’s healing, but rather as a dynamic force that interacts with the bodies of Sofia and her lovers Ingrid and Juan as they swim in its waters and that, like the characters of the novel, is marked by its own ailments and afflictions. Considering this, I argue, expands our understanding of “sickness” or impairment as a designation and pathologization that flows across both human and nonhuman worlds in Hot Milk. In this way, the novel troubles an idealized cultural and literary trope of the restorative seaside by depicting, instead, watery communities of both human and marine life reckoning with anthropogenic harm.}},
author = {{Barrow, Barbara}},
keywords = {{Blue humanities; hydrofeminism; queer ecology; sea cure; Hot Milk; jellyfish; becoming-animal}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{04}},
number = {{1}},
pages = {{103--119}},
series = {{Ecozon@}},
title = {{Swimming with the Trouble : Queer Hydrofeminism and the Sea Cure in Deborah Levy's Hot Milk (2016)}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.37536/ECOZONA.2026.17.1.5879}},
doi = {{10.37536/ECOZONA.2026.17.1.5879}},
volume = {{17}},
year = {{2026}},
}