This was an exceedingly stimulating article, as I hadn’t consciously given the concept of liminality much thought before. While reading this article I could not help but constantly being reminded of the theory of Schrodinger’s cat in which a cat is theoretically placed in a box, and no one knows whether the cat is living or dead until the box is opened (and in that sense the cat is both living and dead [or neither living nor dead] until the box is opened). Spyra provides Victor Turner’s description of liminality in the context of “neophytes within the dynamics of … rites (of passage),” saying “he notes that they ‘are neither living nor dead from one aspect and both living and dead from another.’”(Spyra, 58). In connection to Orfeo and Orpheus, this further let my mind wander to the idea of Pluto/Hades, who must be both living and dead, for he resides in the underworld where death is all-pervasive and yet he has the qualities of being fully alive. I suppose that this goes for any character in an underworld setting, this both being dead and alive, neither alive nor dead, occupying opposing states.
I had been wondering what initiated the connection between the faerie and the mortal world. The grafted tree has been much discussed as a sort of ‘portal’, but considering the article’s insistence that the people who are contacted or taken are themselves usually in a liminal state as well (infancy, puberty, etc.) the tree didn’t seem adequate and so I was trying to identify the Queen’s liminal state. She wasn’t just recently married, between girlhood and womanhood, as is the case with Eurydice in the original myth, so that didn’t work. Then it occured to me that dreaming is most certainly a liminal state, and (in addition to the presence of the grafted tree) what likely made Heurodis vulnerable to contact from the faerie world.
In addition to all the thoughts reading this article induced me to have (most of which I have not written here), it has provided me with a new lens through which to view our texts (and texts I’ve read in the past), and I anticipate pulling this lens out frequently from here on out.
Stefan
I really enjoyed your connection to Schrodinger's cat, and your connections to Pluto/Hades. I would totally read that paper. I also thought it was interesting that a person must be in a liminal state in order to be brought into, or engage with, the fairy realm or the mystical realm. I was also thinking about this in relation to the female mystics and anchoritic visions. I think women during the middle ages were kind of always present in a liminal space, and I wonder if women in these texts are more prone to spiritual messages from the "other side" because of their residence in a liminal space. For example, Sir Gowther's conception is from an "other realm" as is Merlin's. And, in Orfeo, the Queen is taken. I wonder what it is about women that make them more vulnerable to "liminal" contact. Great analysis!
I share the sentiment of not giving liminality much thought prior to this article and had not thought of Schrodinger's cat, so your mention of it gave me a lot more insight into this concept of going through multiple states of being. One interesting idea that came to mind while reading your response is this thought of Pluto/Hades residing in both states of alive and dead, even though he may be alive the fact that he is surrounded by death gives him that identity and association. Furthermore do you think its this presence of that grafted tree would indicate someone going through a liminal state or would it be going through a liminal state that would summon this 'portal'
On a side note I am glad to hear this article has provided you with a new lens of thought in which to view texts.
I agree, the association of the liminal space with both a state of existence and death is fascinating. In anthropology, liminality is associated with rites of passage in which the social view of who an individual was "dies" as the individual assumes a new role within the society. While death is not literal in these cases, it is striking that the fairy realm does deal in death, or at least the throes of death. This heightens the anxiety that typically is present with liminal experiences and complicates the readers' understanding of the fairy realm as representing a concrete Hell or something slightly other. A fascinating theory to apply to a rich and vivid text!