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Chapter 3. Touching difference and colonial space

Niels P. Holbech’s Little Marie on Neky’s Arm
  • Helene Engnes Birkeli
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A Comparative Literary History of Modern Slavery
This chapter is in the book A Comparative Literary History of Modern Slavery

Abstract

This essay argues that Little Marie on Neky’s Arm (1838), a portrait by the Danish painter Niels P. Holbech, provides a challenge to sentimental constructions of the West-Indian “nanny” figure. The relational ambiguity of this painting recalls that of the wet nurse and her charge, a figure of nineteenth-century French painting described by Linda Nochlin (1988). In the context of the colonial imaginary, the nanny figure represented fears of “miscegenation” while also acting as a foil to white European motherhood. Other Danish painters portrayed the nanny figure against the backdrop of the external world. Holbech, however, foregrounds Neky and her charge, Marie by locating them in an indeterminate space. Through its close attention to detail and difference, the painting lays bare the colonial ideology demarcating near and far, nation and colony.

Abstract

This essay argues that Little Marie on Neky’s Arm (1838), a portrait by the Danish painter Niels P. Holbech, provides a challenge to sentimental constructions of the West-Indian “nanny” figure. The relational ambiguity of this painting recalls that of the wet nurse and her charge, a figure of nineteenth-century French painting described by Linda Nochlin (1988). In the context of the colonial imaginary, the nanny figure represented fears of “miscegenation” while also acting as a foil to white European motherhood. Other Danish painters portrayed the nanny figure against the backdrop of the external world. Holbech, however, foregrounds Neky and her charge, Marie by locating them in an indeterminate space. Through its close attention to detail and difference, the painting lays bare the colonial ideology demarcating near and far, nation and colony.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Preface vii
  4. General introduction xi
  5. Slavery, literature and the emotions 1
  6. Part One. Slavery, sentiment and affect
  7. Chapter 1. Slavery, sentimentality and the abolition of affect 18
  8. Chapter 2. Race and affect in Gustave de Beaumont’s Marie, ou L’esclavage aux Etats‑Unis 34
  9. Chapter 3. Touching difference and colonial space 50
  10. Part Two. Slavery between literary codes
  11. Chapter 4. In search of home 78
  12. Chapter 5. Showing and feeling the atrocities of slavery 95
  13. Chapter 6. Politics and faith, slavery and abolition in nineteenth-century Brazilian literature 110
  14. Chapter 7. Melodramatic tableaux vivants 136
  15. Part Three. Pity, identification and interpellation
  16. Chapter 8. Before sentimental empire 158
  17. Chapter 9. “No one can imagine my feelings” 173
  18. Chapter 10. Orientalism, slavery and emotion 191
  19. Chapter 11. Haunting slavery 207
  20. Part Four. Affective ties
  21. Chapter 12. Testamentary manumission and emotional bonds in eighteenth-century Saint-Domingue 226
  22. Chapter 13. Affection amidst domination in a post-slavery society 239
  23. Chapter 14. Bárbora and Jau 254
  24. Part Five. First-person voices
  25. Chapter 15. Scenes of emotion in French early-modern travel writing from the Caribbean 272
  26. Chapter 16. Fear and love in Matanzas 289
  27. Chapter 17. The blood-stained-gate 307
  28. Volume 1. Biographical descriptions 325
  29. Name index 331
https://doi.org/10.1075/chlel.xxxvi.03bir

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Preface vii
  4. General introduction xi
  5. Slavery, literature and the emotions 1
  6. Part One. Slavery, sentiment and affect
  7. Chapter 1. Slavery, sentimentality and the abolition of affect 18
  8. Chapter 2. Race and affect in Gustave de Beaumont’s Marie, ou L’esclavage aux Etats‑Unis 34
  9. Chapter 3. Touching difference and colonial space 50
  10. Part Two. Slavery between literary codes
  11. Chapter 4. In search of home 78
  12. Chapter 5. Showing and feeling the atrocities of slavery 95
  13. Chapter 6. Politics and faith, slavery and abolition in nineteenth-century Brazilian literature 110
  14. Chapter 7. Melodramatic tableaux vivants 136
  15. Part Three. Pity, identification and interpellation
  16. Chapter 8. Before sentimental empire 158
  17. Chapter 9. “No one can imagine my feelings” 173
  18. Chapter 10. Orientalism, slavery and emotion 191
  19. Chapter 11. Haunting slavery 207
  20. Part Four. Affective ties
  21. Chapter 12. Testamentary manumission and emotional bonds in eighteenth-century Saint-Domingue 226
  22. Chapter 13. Affection amidst domination in a post-slavery society 239
  23. Chapter 14. Bárbora and Jau 254
  24. Part Five. First-person voices
  25. Chapter 15. Scenes of emotion in French early-modern travel writing from the Caribbean 272
  26. Chapter 16. Fear and love in Matanzas 289
  27. Chapter 17. The blood-stained-gate 307
  28. Volume 1. Biographical descriptions 325
  29. Name index 331
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