Faculty Brown Bag Not at Home Liminal Space

Faculty Brown Bag: Not at Home: Liminal Space and Personal Identity in The Hobbit and Coraline Kristen Mc. Quinn 27 Feb 2019

Agenda • What is liminality • Functions of liminal space • Liminal spaces in The Hobbit • Liminal spaces in Coraline* • Questions *There will certainly be spoilers for both of these books in the presentation

What is Liminality? • An in-between place, whether physical or metaphorical • Derives from the Latin word limen, or threshold

Functions of Liminal Space in Literature • Typically, more abstract than in real life • As Klapcsik states, in liminal space, “. . . the fantastic is no longer interpreted as a realm different and distant from consensus reality” (p. 321)

Liminal Space in The Hobbit – Bilbo’s front door • “[The hobbit hole] had a perfectly round door like a porthole, painted green, with a shiny yellow brass knob in the exact middle” (Tolkien 1) • Door is Bilbo’s barrier against the outside world • Encounter with Gandalf changes door from ordinary to potential liminal space

Ambivalence • Bilbo is ambivalent about change, adventure, and going to new places. • “Then something Tookish woke up inside him…”

Other people’s space - Beorn’s house • The place where Bilbo truly leaves behind the last traces of all he has known before • The concept of “home” is made dangerous at Beorn’s • A preparation for Mirkwood

Mirkwood – Identity Overhaul • Mirkwood – “dark wood” • Dwarves lose their identity • Bilbo begins to find his identity • Sting

On the Doorstep – The Doors of Durin • Physically enters liminal space on the threshold • Waiting room • Dark tunnel • Invisibility

Coraline – The Door in the Drawing Room • Adolescence is liminal space for growth and identity development • “. . . Coraline is centrally concerned with how one negotiates one’s place in the world; how one is recognised in one’s own right…” (Rudd 160) • Only one door of significance; highlights her fate to find her liminal space (the Other Place) through it and thus her evolving identity (Vargas)

Something Very Old and Very Slow • The long, dark hallway • Similarities between her world and the Other world • Independence and critical thinking • Tolkien’s influence: Coraline’s quest mirrors Bilbo’s

What’s in a Name? • One door, many functions • The black cat – “Please, what’s your name? ” Coraline asked the cat. …“Cats don’t have names, ” it said. …“Now, you people have names. That’s because you don’t know who you are. We know who we are, so we don’t need names” (Gaiman 35) • The ghostly children

Facing Fears • Going back to liminal space • Confronting fears • Return journey to normal world

And They All Lived Happily Ever After • Bilbo finds his courage • Coraline learns self-reliance • “Doors are important. What we find on the other side matters even more” (Mc. Guire)

References • Amison, Anne. "An Unexpected Guest. " Mythlore, vol. 25, no. 95/96, 2006, pp. 127. • Gaiman, Neil. Coraline. Harper. Collins, 2002. • Gaiman, Neil. “Mythcon 35 Guest of Honor Speech. ” Mythopoeic Society Conference, July 30 - Aug 2, 2004, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI. Guest of Honor Speech. http: //journal. neilgaiman. com/2012/01/speech-i-once-gave-on-lewis-tolkien-and. html. • Hallam, Andrew. "Thresholds to Middle-Earth: Allegories of Reading, Allegories for Knowledge and Transformation. " Mythlore, vol. 30, no. 115/116, 2011, pp. 23. • Klapcsik, Sá. "Neil Gaiman's Irony, Liminal Fantasies, and Fairy Tale Adaptations. " HJEAS : Hungarian Journal of English and American Studies, vol. 14, no. 2, 2008, pp. 317334, 455, 459 -460. Pro. Quest, https: //search-proquestcom. contentproxy. phoenix. edu/docview/231770432? accountid=35812.

References • Maguire, Seanan. “Coping with Destiny: The Chosen Children of Portal Fantasy. ” Tor. com, 28 Nov 2017, https: //www. tor. com/2017/11/28/coping-with-destiny-the-chosen-children-of-portalfantasy/ • Norbert, Gyuris. "Fantastic Liminality. " Anachronist, vol. 17, Winter 2012, pp. 319 -323. EBSCOhost, search. ebscohost. com/login. aspx? direct=true&db=lkh&AN=109326197&site=ehostlive&scope=site. • Rudd, David. "An Eye for an I: Neil Gaiman's Coraline and Questions of Identity. " Children's Literature in Education, vol. 39, no. 3, Sept. 2008, pp. 159 -168. EBSCOhost, doi: 10. 1007/s 10583 -008 -9067 -7. • Tolkien, J. R. R. “The Doors of Durin. ” The Lord of the Rings Wiki. http: //lotr. wikia. com/wiki/Doors_of_Durin. • Tolkien, J. R. R. The Hobbit. Ballantine, 1937. • Vargas, José R. S. , and Juan C. S. Vargas. "A Girl in the Dark with Monsters: The Convergence of Gothic Elements and Children's Literature in Neil Gaiman's Coraline. " Revista De Lenguas Modernas, no. 21, 2014, pp. 77 -94. Pro. Quest, https: //search-proquestcom. contentproxy. phoenix. edu/docview/1639603956? accountid=35812.

Questions?