Ghosted subjectivities in Margo Lanagan’s ‘The Point of Roses’ | Intellect Skip to content
1981
  1. Home
  2. A-Z Publications
  3. Short Fiction in Theory & Practice
  4. Volume 10, Issue 1
  5. Article
Volume 10, Issue 1
  • ISSN: 2043-0701
  • E-ISSN: 2043-071X

Abstract

This article examines the tropes of ghosting in Margo Lanagan’s ‘The Point of Roses’ in relation to Judith Butler’s theory of the performative construction of identity through reiteration and foreclosure. The story illustrates the ghosting effect of normative subjectivities and the spectral, disruptive return of the contingent, socially erased subjectivities. Ghosting is considered in the light of the dual nature of the spectral as ‘a dispossessing erasure or disappearance’, and also a ‘powerful ability to rematerialize as a disturbing force’ (Maria del Pilar Blanco and Ester Peeren). In this sense, the ghost is that which is ontologically invisible because of absence/erasure; but which is also visible because it is haunting those who try to erase it. The article examines the role of the uncanny in disrupting the ontological conditions of time, space, character, substance and language. Then, it focuses on the traces of invisibility as signs of erasure and foreclosure that are meant to institute and suture an identity, while relegating other layers of subjectivity to oblivion. Finally, the article studies the disruptive return of the excluded and its dual consequences on the haunted subject, on the one hand by establishing a liminal condition of unknowing and, on the other hand, by opening up to a condition of ‘transformative recognition’ (Avery Gordon).

© 2020 Intellect Ltd
Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1386/fict_00014_1
2020-04-01
2023-10-02
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Agamben, G.. ( 2013;), ‘ Uses and disadvantages of living among specters. ’, in M. del Pilar Blanco, and E. Peeren. (eds), The Spectralities Reader: Ghosts and Haunting in Contemporary Cultural Theory, New York and London:: Bloomsbury;, pp. 473–78.
     [Google Scholar]
  2. Bailey, J.. ( 2015;), ‘ “Haunted, whether we like it or not”: The ghost stories of Muriel Spark. ’, in E. Young, and J. Bailey. (eds), British Women Short Story Writers: The New Woman to Now, Edinburgh:: Edinburgh University Press;, pp. 81–95.
     [Google Scholar]
  3. Botting, F.. ( 1996), Gothic, London and New York:: Routledge;.
     [Google Scholar]
  4. Botting, F.. ( 2012;), ‘ Stories, spectres, screens. ’, in J. Sacido. (ed.), Modernism, Postmodernism, and the Short Story in English, Amsterdam and New York:: Rodopi B.V.;, pp. 99–123.
     [Google Scholar]
  5. Butler, J.. ( 1993), Bodies That Matter: On the Discursive Limits of “Sex”, New York:: Routledge;.
     [Google Scholar]
  6. Butler, J.. ( 2007), Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity, New York:: Routledge;.
     [Google Scholar]
  7. Cixous, H.. ( 1976;), ‘ Fiction and its fantoms: A reading of Freud’s Das Unheimlich (The “Uncanny”). ’, New Literary History, 7:3, pp. 525–48.
     [Google Scholar]
  8. Davis, C.. ( 2013;), ‘ État présent: Hauntology, spectres and phantoms. ’, in M. del Pilar Blanco, and E. Peeren. (eds), The Spectralities Reader: Ghosts and Haunting in Contemporary Cultural Theory, New York and London:: Bloomsbury;, pp. 53–60.
     [Google Scholar]
  9. del Pilar Blanco, M., and Peeren, E.. (eds) ( 2013), The Spectralities Reader: Ghosts and Haunting in Contemporary Cultural Theory, New York and London:: Bloomsbury;.
     [Google Scholar]
  10. Derrida, J.. ( 1994), Specters of Marx the State of the Debt and the Work of Mourning and the New International, New York and London:: Routledge;.
     [Google Scholar]
  11. Derrida, J., and Stiegler, B.. ( 2013;), ‘ Spectographies. ’, in M. del Pilar Blanco, and E. Peeren. (eds), The Spectralities Reader: Ghosts and Haunting in Contemporary Cultural Theory, New York and London:: Bloomsbury;, pp. 37–52.
     [Google Scholar]
  12. Freud, S.. ( 2003), The Uncanny (trans. D. Mclintock.), London:: Penguin;.
     [Google Scholar]
  13. Gordon, A.. ( 2013;), ‘ From his shape and her hands. ’, in M. del Pilar Blanco, and E. Peeren. (eds), The Spectralities Reader: Ghosts and Haunting in Contemporary Cultural Theory, New York and London:: Bloomsbury;, pp. 103–30.
     [Google Scholar]
  14. Hurley, K.. ( 2004), The Gothic Body: Sexuality, Materialism, and Degeneration at the Fin de Siecle, Cambridge:: Cambridge University Press;.
     [Google Scholar]
  15. Jackson, R.. ( 1981), Fantasy: The Literature of Subversion, London and New York:: Methuen;.
     [Google Scholar]
  16. Lanagan, M.. ( 2005), Black Juice, New York:: Harper Collins;.
     [Google Scholar]
  17. Lanagan, M.. ( 2015;), ‘ The Point of Roses. ’, in Yellow Cake, New York:: Ember Edition;, pp. 1–28.
     [Google Scholar]
  18. Lanagan, M.. ( 2016;), ‘ RE: The Point of Roses. ’, e-mail received by Karima Thomas , 17 January.
  19. Langstan, B. L.. ( 2003;), ‘ “I Will Write my Name in Fire Red”: Subjectivity and Allegory in Wide Sargasso Sea and Annie John. ’, Chrestomathy, 2:2003, pp. 163–74.
     [Google Scholar]
  20. Liggins, E.. ( 2015;) ‘ Beyond the haunted house: Modernist women’s ghost stories and the troubling of identity. ’, in E. Young, and J. Bailey. (eds), British Women Short Story Writers: The New Woman to Now, Edinburgh:: Edinburgh University Press;, pp. 32–49.
     [Google Scholar]
  21. Masschelein, A.. ( 2011), The Unconcept, New York:: State University of New York Press;.
     [Google Scholar]
  22. Morton, L.. ( 2013;), ‘ Interview: Margo Lanagan. ’, Nightmare, 13, October, http://www.nightmare-magazine.com/issues/oct-2013-issue-13/. Accessed 12 October 2016.
     [Google Scholar]
  23. Todorov, T.. ( 1975), The Fantastic: A Structural Approach to Literary Genre (trans. R. Howard.), New York:: Cornell University Press;.
     [Google Scholar]
  24. Weinstock, J. A.. ( 2013;), ‘ From introduction: The Spectral Turn. ’, in M. del Pilar Blanco, and E. Peeren. (eds), The Spectralities Reader: Ghosts and Haunting in Contemporary Cultural Theory, New York and London:: Bloomsbury;, pp. 61–67.
     [Google Scholar]
  25. Young, E., and Bailey, J.. (eds) ( 2015), British Women Short Story Writers: The New Woman to Now, Edinburgh:: Edinburgh University Press;.
     [Google Scholar]
  26. Thomas, Karima. ( 2020;), ‘ Ghosted subjectivities in Margo Lanagan’s “The Point of Roses”. ’, Short Fiction in Theory & Practice, 10:1, pp. 57–72, doi: https://doi.org/10.1386/fict_00014_1
     [Google Scholar]
http://instance.metastore.ingenta.com/content/journals/10.1386/fict_00014_1
Loading
  • Article Type: Article
Keyword(s): foreclosure; ghosted subjectivities; identity construction; Judith Butler; performative reiteration; uncanny

Most Cited Most Cited RSS feed

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a success
Invalid data
An error occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error