The Use of Weapons for the Production of the Uncanny in Hardy and Conrad
This paper explores a particular sub-category of objects, namely weapons. In Hardy’s work, guns, swords, cannons, and other tools of destruction are put to use with disturbing frequency not in the public arena of battle but in private spaces, for courtship (as in Troy’s sword), or to settle what the...
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| 出版年: | URI:https://journals.openedition.org/fathom, |
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| 第一著者: | |
| フォーマット: | Article ou chapitre numérique |
| 言語: | Anglais |
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FATHOM
2019
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| 主題: | |
| オンライン･アクセス: | Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM |
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openedition-oai:revues.org:fathom_1640 |
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openedition |
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openedition-oai:revues.org:fathom_1640 https://doi.org/10.4000/fathom.1640 urn:doi:10.4000/fathom.1640 en https://journals.openedition.org/fathom/1640 2019-10-02T02:00:00Z info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess article info:eu-repo/semantics/article urn:handle:20.500.13089/gajk All rights reserved The Use of Weapons for the Production of the Uncanny in Hardy and Conrad FATHOM Association française sur les études sur Thomas Hardy info:eu-repo/semantics/reference/issn/2270-6798 URI:https://journals.openedition.org/fathom Hewitt, Andrew objet Conrad (Joseph) arme couteau fusil épée inquiétante étrangeté deodand matière vibrante object Conrad (Joseph) weapon sword gun knife uncanny deodand vibrant matter This paper explores a particular sub-category of objects, namely weapons. In Hardy’s work, guns, swords, cannons, and other tools of destruction are put to use with disturbing frequency not in the public arena of battle but in private spaces, for courtship (as in Troy’s sword), or to settle what the police might call domestic incidents (as in Boldwood’s gun). The insinuation into private/domestic space by weapons designed for impersonal combat is met by a movement in the opposite direction which sees the conversion of everyday objects into weapons. The suddenness with which weapons appear in the narrative, the fact that any object may be repurposed as a weapon, and the suggestion that weapons, like other objects in Hardy, have agency, contribute to the production of the uncanny. I conclude by suggesting grounds for comparison between Conrad’s The Secret Agent and Tess of the d’Urbervilles. In both novels, a woman is practised upon by an unscrupulous man and eventually revenges herself in the same way, using the same object, a carving-knife, as weapon. Although the two novelists use different techniques to stockpile affect in the object for sudden, cataclysmic disbursement, they both leave open the question of the object’s agency. Cet article étudie une catégorie bien particulière d’objets, à savoir les armes. Dans l’œuvre de Hardy, les fusils, épées, canons et autres armes de destruction sont utilisés avec une régularité inquiétante, non pas dans la sphère publique mais dans des espaces privés, qu’il s’agisse de séduire une femme (ce que fait l’épée de Troy) ou de régler ce que la police pourrait nommer des « incidents domestiques » (ce que fait le fusil de Boldwood). Et en retour de ce mouvement, par lequel des armes conçues pour les combats collectifs s’insinuent dans l’espace privé et/ou domestique, un mouvement inverse voit des objets du quotidien se convertir en armes. La soudaineté avec laquelle les armes apparaissent dans le récit, le fait que tout objet puisse être reconfiguré comme arme, et la suggestion que les armes sont douées d’agentivité, comme bien des objets chez Hardy, contribuent à produire un sentiment d’inquiétante étrangeté. L’article s’achève en proposant des éléments de comparaison à ce sujet entre Tess of the d’Urbervilles et le roman de Conrad The Secret Agent. Dans les deux romans, une femme est manipulée par un homme sans scrupule, et finit par se venger en utilisant en guise d’arme le même objet, un couteau de cuisine. Même si les deux romanciers utilisent des techniques différentes pour charger d’affect les objets, en vue d’un dénouement brutal et destructeur, ils posent tout deux la question ambiguë d’une possible agentivité des objets. |
| collection |
OpenEdition Journal |
| language |
Anglais |
| format |
Article ou chapitre numérique |
| building |
0/Bibliothèque numérique/ 1/Bibliothèque numérique/OpenEdition Journals/ |
| topic |
objet Conrad (Joseph) arme couteau fusil épée inquiétante étrangeté deodand matière vibrante object Conrad (Joseph) weapon sword gun knife uncanny deodand vibrant matter |
| spellingShingle |
objet Conrad (Joseph) arme couteau fusil épée inquiétante étrangeté deodand matière vibrante object Conrad (Joseph) weapon sword gun knife uncanny deodand vibrant matter Hewitt, Andrew The Use of Weapons for the Production of the Uncanny in Hardy and Conrad |
| description |
This paper explores a particular sub-category of objects, namely weapons. In Hardy’s work, guns, swords, cannons, and other tools of destruction are put to use with disturbing frequency not in the public arena of battle but in private spaces, for courtship (as in Troy’s sword), or to settle what the police might call domestic incidents (as in Boldwood’s gun). The insinuation into private/domestic space by weapons designed for impersonal combat is met by a movement in the opposite direction which sees the conversion of everyday objects into weapons. The suddenness with which weapons appear in the narrative, the fact that any object may be repurposed as a weapon, and the suggestion that weapons, like other objects in Hardy, have agency, contribute to the production of the uncanny. I conclude by suggesting grounds for comparison between Conrad’s The Secret Agent and Tess of the d’Urbervilles. In both novels, a woman is practised upon by an unscrupulous man and eventually revenges herself in the same way, using the same object, a carving-knife, as weapon. Although the two novelists use different techniques to stockpile affect in the object for sudden, cataclysmic disbursement, they both leave open the question of the object’s agency. |
| author |
Hewitt, Andrew |
| author_facet |
Hewitt, Andrew |
| author_sort |
Hewitt, Andrew |
| title |
The Use of Weapons for the Production of the Uncanny in Hardy and Conrad |
| title_short |
The Use of Weapons for the Production of the Uncanny in Hardy and Conrad |
| title_full |
The Use of Weapons for the Production of the Uncanny in Hardy and Conrad |
| title_fullStr |
The Use of Weapons for the Production of the Uncanny in Hardy and Conrad |
| title_full_unstemmed |
The Use of Weapons for the Production of the Uncanny in Hardy and Conrad |
| title_sort |
use of weapons for the production of the uncanny in hardy and conrad |
| publisher |
FATHOM |
| publishDate |
2019 |
| container_title |
URI:https://journals.openedition.org/fathom |
| url |
https://ezproxy.univ-orleans.fr/login?url=https://doi.org/10.4000/fathom.1640 https://ezproxy.univ-orleans.fr/login?url=https://journals.openedition.org/fathom/1640 |
| _version_ |
1877241475797876737 |