Blazek, William (2023) "'My God, you're fun to kiss': Love, Lust, and Liminality in Tender Is the Night". Etudes anglaises, 75 (4). pp. 426-442. ISSN 0014-195X
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Abstract
Drawing upon classic theories of liminality, this article examines the ways in which Tender Is the Night presents characters, scenes, and narrative constructions that are “betwixt and between,” crossing borders, or entering and exiting thresholds that signal personal and social change. Each of the three Book sections in the text centers on the impact and consequences of an initial dramatic kiss: between Dick Diver and Rosemary Hoyt that focuses on transition, between Dick and Nicole Diver that involves transference, and between Nicole Diver and Tommy Barban that results in transformation. The gyrospheric qualities of these liminal transactions lead to a vortex of consequences for the characters and to further implications within the novel’s focus on mutability. With close-reading of textual details that demonstrate how Fitzgerald explores through liminal imagery and vocabulary the boundaries of love and desire, the theme of change deepens into a critique of post-war Western civilization and the emergence of unsettling cultural phenomena including the cinema industry, the rise of the clinic, and gender reconfigurations.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Faculty / Department: | Faculty of Creative Arts & Humanities > School of Humanities |
| Depositing User: | William Blazek |
| Date Deposited: | 22 Mar 2023 12:01 |
| Last Modified: | 05 Dec 2024 16:33 |
| URI: | https://hira.hope.ac.uk/id/eprint/3788 |
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