JACK THE RIPPER AND THE FAMILY PHYSICIAN: GYNAECOLOGY AND DOMESTIC MEDICINE IN “PENELOPE”
In: Joyce, "Penelope" and the Body
Author:
VIKE MARTINA PLOCK
VIKE MARTINA PLOCK
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Abstract
This essay discusses two crucial medical subtexts in Joyce’s “Penelope”. As my argument will show, at the turn of the twentieth century gynaecological theory and domestic medicine both emerged as effective instruments in reinforcing conventional gender politics. In presenting Molly Bloom’s conflicting and kaleidoscopic image Joyce overtly challenges reductive representations of femininity and medicine’s growing influence in the society of modernity.