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Madness in Fairy Land: (Re)Imagining Deviance in the Age of Psychiatry, 1820-1900

Projektbeschreibung

Neukonzeption von Devianz – eine Märchenwelt

Geschlecht und Sexualität haben sich in den kulturellen und wissenschaftlichen Debatten unserer Zeit in Europa und Nordamerika als prägende Themen hervorgetan. Die frühe Psychiatrie im 19. Jahrhundert zog scharfe Trennlinien zwischen „normalem/abnormalem“, „moralischem/deviantem“ Verhalten und psychischer Krankheit. Dies beeinflusste auch die Literatur, die wiederum die patriarchale Narration und strenge Normen hinterfragte und die Kodifizierung von Geisteskrankheit in der Psychiatrie neu interpretierte. Dieses wechselseitige Phänomen wird durch zahlreiche Märchen aus Frankreich, Großbritannien und den USA veranschaulicht. Auf dieser Grundlage wird das EU-finanzierte Projekt MadLand in bahnbrechender interdisziplinärer, transnationaler, translinguistischer Forschungsarbeit den gegenseitigen Wissensaustausch zwischen Psychiatrie und Literatur untersuchen, der bei der Interpretation und Neukonzeption von Devianz stattfand, und dazu eine vergleichende Textanalyse des Diskurses über psychische Krankheit und Märchen durchführen.

Ziel

‘Madness in Fairy Land’ (MadLand) is an interdisciplinary exploration of fairy-tale and medical discourses on deviance and abnormality in 19th-century Britain, France, and the US. The project demonstrates the mutual knowledge-exchange between psychiatry and literature in interpreting, understanding, and (re)imagining deviance. In its comparative textual analysis of treatises on mental illness and fairy-tale narratives, MadLand provides the first transnational and translinguistic investigation: (1) of the ways in which 19th-century literary fairy tales reflected, incorporated, and questioned medical interpretations of moral and psychological deviance and of abnormal behaviour; and (2) of how the fairy-tale imagery and language of monstrosity, in turn, influenced and served as a point of reference for the codification of insanity by psychiatry in its formative period, 1820-1900.
MadLand examines portrayals of diverse characters and themes in fairy-tale narratives that challenged hegemonic views of (hetero)normativity. It investigates literature’s creative reaction to the rigid dividing lines between normality and deviance as established by early psychiatry, then incorporated into the dominant cultural discourse, and still very much debated today. Exploring the emergence of psychological deviance and its representation in 19th-century fairy tales from a comparative viewpoint, MadLand contributes to current discussions on perceived norms and deviations of sexual orientation and gender expression, shedding light on medical and literary debates around ab/normal behaviour, monstrosity, gender, and sexuality in Europe and North America.
As an expert in the relations between literature and medicine and 19th-century discourses of decadence, I am especially qualified to undertake this research, which will give me the opportunity to build on my existing knowledge in comparative literature as well as to acquire new skills and competences in fairy-tale and gender studies.

Koordinator

UNIVERSITA CA' FOSCARI VENEZIA
Netto-EU-Beitrag
€ 269 002,56
Adresse
DORSODURO 3246
30123 Venezia
Italien

Auf der Karte ansehen

Region
Nord-Est Veneto Venezia
Aktivitätstyp
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
Links
Gesamtkosten
€ 269 002,56

Partner (1)