The Objects of Jane Gardam

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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. My comments here on Gardam’s outputs and biography draw on my entry for Gardam in The Literary Encyclopedia.

2. Though I refer to the novels as a trilogy, Gardam is resistant to any idea that the second and third novels should be seen as “sequels.” See Alex Clark’s interview with Gardam.

3. There is another fascinating story to tell on the biographies of pearls within lesbian discourse. See, for instance, essays by Nicky Hallett and Claire O’Callaghan.

4. Lukas Lammers makes use of Lowry’s words in his title. The chapter is a critique of what he sees as Gardam’s problematic representation of the Empire’s decline.

5. Saying more about Feathers’s time with his foster family is not essential to my argument and avoids a plot spoiler for readers who have not, as yet, read this text.

6. “Malaya” became “the Federation of Malaya” in 1957, and, in 1963, the name “Malaysia” was adopted. “Dacca” was changed to “Dhaka” in 1982, sometime after Bangladesh became an independent state in 1971.

7. It is notable how many academic institutions and museums have online series devoted to the analysis of individual objects. In the UK, for example, see the Royal Society, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the British Museum, the Pitt Rivers Museum etc.

8. Benares trays feature also in Gardam’s short story, “The Tribute.” They tell us something about the social relations between the servants of the Empire and the servants of the servants, in this case a nanny.

9. In a related way, Sara Ahmed talks of the stickiness of emotions.

10. A fruitful link is Connor’s discussion with Brian Dillon in which Dillon mentions the depiction of Charles Bovary’s hat in Flaubert’s Madame Bovary. He raises with Connor the issue of how one writes about an object. See ” A Philosophy of Everyday Things.”

11. Gardam’s explanation of the origins of Feathers as a subject would be of interest here. See her “Introduction” to the 2013 Abacus edition of Old Filth.

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Notes on contributors

Mary Eagleton

Mary Eagleton was, formerly, Professor of Contemporary Women’s Writing at Leeds Beckett University, UK. She has published extensively on contemporary women’s writing, feminist literary theory, and feminist literary history.