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Skin as a Trope of Liminality in Anne Enright's The Gathering

2013; Oxford University Press; Volume: 8; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1093/cww/vps028

1754-1484

Ana-Karina Schneider,

Anthropological Studies and Insights

Of the many figurations of liminality and disjunction in Anne Enright’s 2007 novel The Gathering, skin is possibly the most complex trope. As it demarcates and safeguards the protagonist Veronica Hegarty’s elusive sense of self while she traverses a period of mourning, skin recuperates the immediacy of its anatomical function of holding her in, but it also acquires metaphoric value, denoting an inside-outside dialectic that defines both interpersonal relations and psychosocial ontogenesis. Anthropologist Victor Turner’s theorisation of liminality serves to focalise this study of skin as a trope of the permeability of the modern individual to external values, structures and codes and of the prevalence and relevance of ritual in the modern secular society. This essay investigates the constitutive role of ritual and liminality in private experience as thematised through representations of skin, and interrogates the extent to which the individual can insert her private concerns, aspirations and femininity in the communally regulated ritual, and moreover can bring about change in her community.