The Body Narrative and the Construction of Englishness in Defoe's Novels
Body is a recurrent and remarkable image in Defoe's novels.The representation of body constitutes an ideological discourse,incorporating such elements as race,gender,and nation.The body narrative in his novels not only reveals the life experience of individuals,but serves as a poetic means to construct Englishness.Through body narrative,Defoe creates the image pedigree of British modem citizens which includes the imperial colonizer who survives physical hunger with diligence and self-discipline,the lower-class women who suffer so much and prostitute themselves for a livelihood,and the London citizens who rebuild their national community in the wake of the devastating pandemic.The body narrative resonates with Defoe's rethinking of Englishness,effectively echoing the rise of modem nation-state in the early 18th century while profoundly shaping the body writing and the nation-state imagination of the later novelists.
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维普
