Exploiting Body and Place in Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the d’Urbervilles
Drawing upon Annie Escuret’s epistemocritical method of reading, and on her vision of energy and entropy, this paper considers how, in Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the d’Urbervilles, agricultural steam machines begin to colonize the countryside and seem to violate and dislocate the female body. Whereas Ta...
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Presses Universitaires de la Méditerranée
2019-12-01
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| Series: | Cahiers Victoriens et Edouardiens |
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| Online Access: | https://journals.openedition.org/cve/6157 |
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| author | Catherine Lanone |
| author_facet | Catherine Lanone |
| author_sort | Catherine Lanone |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Drawing upon Annie Escuret’s epistemocritical method of reading, and on her vision of energy and entropy, this paper considers how, in Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the d’Urbervilles, agricultural steam machines begin to colonize the countryside and seem to violate and dislocate the female body. Whereas Talbothays still offers a pastoral community, Flintcomb Ash is a cold place of abjection where both the land and the women are ruthlessly exploited. This creates a kind of proto-ecofeminist logic, as colonial metaphors are applied to the landscape but also to Tess’s enslaved body, while she toils on the machine, relentlessly exposed to the male gaze. Her kinship with animals goes beyond mere metaphor to connect the plight of doomed birds, mice and snakes and of the vulnerable woman. Tess’s plight may be exceptional, but the exception is part of a wider meditation on instability and seasonal flux, as mutations tear the rural social fabric. Far from being merely pastoral and nostalgic, the novel breaks new ground by engaging with gendered and technological strategies that distort the biotope of Wessex. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-39796a1bb7254cf4a9ced95326b1097c |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 0220-5610 2271-6149 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2019-12-01 |
| publisher | Presses Universitaires de la Méditerranée |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Cahiers Victoriens et Edouardiens |
| spelling | doaj-art-39796a1bb7254cf4a9ced95326b1097c2025-01-30T10:22:25ZengPresses Universitaires de la MéditerranéeCahiers Victoriens et Edouardiens0220-56102271-61492019-12-019010.4000/cve.6157Exploiting Body and Place in Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the d’UrbervillesCatherine LanoneDrawing upon Annie Escuret’s epistemocritical method of reading, and on her vision of energy and entropy, this paper considers how, in Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the d’Urbervilles, agricultural steam machines begin to colonize the countryside and seem to violate and dislocate the female body. Whereas Talbothays still offers a pastoral community, Flintcomb Ash is a cold place of abjection where both the land and the women are ruthlessly exploited. This creates a kind of proto-ecofeminist logic, as colonial metaphors are applied to the landscape but also to Tess’s enslaved body, while she toils on the machine, relentlessly exposed to the male gaze. Her kinship with animals goes beyond mere metaphor to connect the plight of doomed birds, mice and snakes and of the vulnerable woman. Tess’s plight may be exceptional, but the exception is part of a wider meditation on instability and seasonal flux, as mutations tear the rural social fabric. Far from being merely pastoral and nostalgic, the novel breaks new ground by engaging with gendered and technological strategies that distort the biotope of Wessex.https://journals.openedition.org/cve/6157Hardy (Thomas)workanimalexploitationpastoralecofeminism |
| spellingShingle | Catherine Lanone Exploiting Body and Place in Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the d’Urbervilles Cahiers Victoriens et Edouardiens Hardy (Thomas) work animal exploitation pastoral ecofeminism |
| title | Exploiting Body and Place in Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the d’Urbervilles |
| title_full | Exploiting Body and Place in Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the d’Urbervilles |
| title_fullStr | Exploiting Body and Place in Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the d’Urbervilles |
| title_full_unstemmed | Exploiting Body and Place in Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the d’Urbervilles |
| title_short | Exploiting Body and Place in Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the d’Urbervilles |
| title_sort | exploiting body and place in thomas hardy s tess of the d urbervilles |
| topic | Hardy (Thomas) work animal exploitation pastoral ecofeminism |
| url | https://journals.openedition.org/cve/6157 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT catherinelanone exploitingbodyandplaceinthomashardystessofthedurbervilles |