Bodies, space, and affective entanglement in The Taverner Novels by Mary Butts

Abstract

This thesis examines how affect circulates between body and space in Mary Butts’ The Taverner Novels, thereby contributing to scholarship on modernist spatial aesthetics and the recovery of modernist women’s writing. The thesis consists of an introduction, two core chapters, and a conclusion. The introduction situates Mary Butts within modernist literary studies and introduces The Taverner Novels as affective and spatially dynamic text. The first core chapter introduces the author in the context of modernism, gives an overview of previous research, and establishes the theoretical framework of affect, transcorporeality, and literary space studies for the following analysis. The second core chapter provides an attentive reading of spaces in The Taverner Novels. The analysis identifies affective moments through textual and contextual details that blur the line between body and space. The spaces in focus are Dorset nature, the literary spaces surrounding it, the urban environments of Paris and London, and finally bodily spatiality through movement, dancing and water. The conclusion presents the findings of the thesis and suggests further possible research relevant to the topic and author. Keywords: modernist literature, affect, space, transcorporeality, Mary Butts