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Displacement in Rose Tremain’s First Novel: Sadler’s Birthday

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Abstract

This chapter examines Tremain’s constitutive interest in marginality with the story of an ageing butler figure turned master of the house, Sadler. A story of social displacement dramatizing the collapse of the British Empire, the novel also problematizes historical dislocation with its focus on the character’s WWII memories. The chapter draws parallels with Ishiguro’s Booker prize-winning The Remains of the Day published 12 years later. It looks at the post-colonial dimension of the novel in relation to feminist theory, in particular Julia Kristeva’s concept of abjection.

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Walezak, E. (2017). Displacement in Rose Tremain’s First Novel: Sadler’s Birthday . In: Rose Tremain. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57129-4_2

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