Counterspaces of Resistance: Peter Carey’s Bliss

The article discusses how Peter Carey’s 1980 novel Bliss constructs and examines various counterspaces both in and beyond the text. First, it shows how the plot juxtaposes the consumerist middle-class suburban model of life with an alternative lifestyle, presenting the attractions and limitations of...

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Autor principal:	Barbara Klonowska
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Institute of English Studies 2021
Materias:	peter carey counterspace heterotopia resistance suburb realism English language PE1-3729 English literature PR1-9680
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/73e37b480ba444019a885d2f1c26476f
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id	oai:doaj.org-article:73e37b480ba444019a885d2f1c26476f
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:73e37b480ba444019a885d2f1c26476f2021-11-09T09:51:44ZCounterspaces of Resistance: Peter Carey’s Bliss10.7311/0860-5734.30.1.050860-5734https://doaj.org/article/73e37b480ba444019a885d2f1c26476f2021-09-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doaj.org/toc/0860-5734The article discusses how Peter Carey’s 1980 novel Bliss constructs and examines various counterspaces both in and beyond the text. First, it shows how the plot juxtaposes the consumerist middle-class suburban model of life with an alternative lifestyle, presenting the attractions and limitations of both, yet preferring rather the latter. Secondly, at the level of literary convention, the text activates the strategies of comic social realism only to juxtapose them with elements of fantasy, fairy tale and myth, thus undermining the representational powers of the former and hinting at other possibilities of representation. Finally, the film adaptation of the novel shows how even rebellious or critical texts may become ‘domesticated’ or absorbed by the dominating logic of cultural production, thus once again demonstrating the ambivalent position of works of art in general, and this novel in particular. The article argues that the ambivalence engrained in the text is an intrinsic feature, not only of Australian culture or heterotopias but of most cultural products and practices inevitably entangled in the double logic of conforming and resistance.Barbara KlonowskaInstitute of English Studiesarticlepeter careycounterspaceheterotopiaresistancesuburbrealismEnglish languagePE1-3729English literaturePR1-9680ENAnglica. An International Journal of English Studies, Vol 30, Iss 1, Pp 67-78 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	peter carey counterspace heterotopia resistance suburb realism English language PE1-3729 English literature PR1-9680
spellingShingle	peter carey counterspace heterotopia resistance suburb realism English language PE1-3729 English literature PR1-9680 Barbara Klonowska Counterspaces of Resistance: Peter Carey’s Bliss
description	The article discusses how Peter Carey’s 1980 novel Bliss constructs and examines various counterspaces both in and beyond the text. First, it shows how the plot juxtaposes the consumerist middle-class suburban model of life with an alternative lifestyle, presenting the attractions and limitations of both, yet preferring rather the latter. Secondly, at the level of literary convention, the text activates the strategies of comic social realism only to juxtapose them with elements of fantasy, fairy tale and myth, thus undermining the representational powers of the former and hinting at other possibilities of representation. Finally, the film adaptation of the novel shows how even rebellious or critical texts may become ‘domesticated’ or absorbed by the dominating logic of cultural production, thus once again demonstrating the ambivalent position of works of art in general, and this novel in particular. The article argues that the ambivalence engrained in the text is an intrinsic feature, not only of Australian culture or heterotopias but of most cultural products and practices inevitably entangled in the double logic of conforming and resistance.
format	article
author	Barbara Klonowska
author_facet	Barbara Klonowska
author_sort	Barbara Klonowska
title	Counterspaces of Resistance: Peter Carey’s Bliss
title_short	Counterspaces of Resistance: Peter Carey’s Bliss
title_full	Counterspaces of Resistance: Peter Carey’s Bliss
title_fullStr	Counterspaces of Resistance: Peter Carey’s Bliss
title_full_unstemmed	Counterspaces of Resistance: Peter Carey’s Bliss
title_sort	counterspaces of resistance: peter carey’s bliss
publisher	Institute of English Studies
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/73e37b480ba444019a885d2f1c26476f
work_keys_str_mv	AT barbaraklonowska counterspacesofresistancepetercareysbliss
_version_	1718441210102677504

Counterspaces of Resistance: Peter Carey’s Bliss

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