Borderline experience: madness, mimicry and Scottish gothic

Brewster, S

Abstract

This essay draws on Julia Kristeva's concept of 'borderline' experience, a feature of psychotic discourse, to examine the representation of madness, split personality and sociopathic behaviour in James Hogg's The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner and the contemporary, muted Gothic of John Burnside's The Locust Room (2001). The main characteristics of borderline experience - a concern with authenticity and the proper name, with uncertain boundaries between inside and outside, truth and delusion - are central concerns in Hogg and Burnside, and the essay assesses the value of borderline discourse for a critical reading of madness in Gothic.

Citation

Brewster, S. (2005). Borderline experience: madness, mimicry and Scottish gothic. Gothic Studies, 7(1), 79-86

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: May 1, 2005
• Deposit Date: Jan 23, 2009
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 23, 2009
• Journal: Gothic Studies
• Print ISSN: 1362-7937
• Publisher: Manchester University Press
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 7
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 79-86