Queer Heterotopic Space: A Foucauldian Feminist Analysis of Margaret Atwood’s the Handmaid Tale
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47067/jlcc.v4i3.140Keywords:
Heterotopia, Gender, Queerness, Identity, Other, Post-modern, Post-structuralismAbstract
The depiction of heterotopic identities in the polarized trauma narrative is a significant concern of this research. Identity as a fluid term finds multiple references and representations in setting its permanent position within the designed space. This research focuses on locating the heterotopic identities embedded in emerging speculative fiction. It is essential to understand the function of the heterotopic space in the formation and recognition of identity. Many post-structuralists and postmodern theorists have adopted the idea of heterotopic space as governance to locate differences at the ethnic, political, social-cultural, linguistic, and racial levels. Likewise, the binary oppositions such as good vs. evil, son vs. daughter, and old style vs. contemporary have provided a scheme for analyzing the mirroring complexities of stereotypical diversities. And to locate these diversities, this study will identify the heterotopic space through the canon of queerness. The queer theory will serve as a transcending framework for the present research. To explore the queer futurity of heterotopias, the significant work of Margret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale is selected. This research will explore the practicality of Foucault’s (1989) concept of Worlds within a world that will assist in generating a wholesome gender role reversal through the mirror technique. Moreover, this present research identifies the heterotopic practices of the picaresque tradition for exploring multiple identities.
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