âA Mystery Whose Deepest Folds Were Gathered around the Dark Oak Cabinetâ: Uncovering the Secrets of Phantastes

Francesca Arnavas

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Chapter 8 âA Mystery Whose Deepest Folds Were Gathered around the Dark Oak Cabinetâ

Uncovering the Secrets of Phantastes

In: The Cultural Construction of Hidden Spaces

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Francesca Arnavas

Francesca Arnavas
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Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 119â128

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004694729_010

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Abstract

On the first page of George MacDonaldâs Phantastes, the protagonist, Anodos, recalls the meaningful events of the day before, his âone-and-twentieth birthdayâ: âamong other ceremonies investing me with my legal rights, the keys of an old secretary, in which my father had kept his private papers, had been delivered to meâ. Opening and exploring the secretary is what prompts the beginning of Anodosâs adventures; gaining access to the dark oak cabinet allows him to enter Fairy Land. The secretary is made of drawers and mysterious small chambers, and a little cupboard in the centre immediately attracts Anodosâs attention âas if there lay the secret of this long-hidden worldâ. A miniature beautiful woman, who declares herself to be his grandmother, suddenly appears from the little cupboardâs hidden chamber, and she is the first female figure guiding Anodos in his enigmatic and magical vicissitudes. This essay argues that the whole cosmos characterising the notorious complexity of Phantastes is contained and exemplified by this initial act of opening the old secretary and by what Anodos finds in it. In particular, four crucial aspects of the narrative structure and content of Phantastes are already introduced in the first pages dealing with Anodosâs exploration of the secretary, in which these main themes are summarised and symbolised. Thus, the secrets of the secretary reveal some of Phantastesâs own secrets.

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The Cultural Construction of Hidden Spaces

Essays on Pockets, Pouches and Secret Drawers

Series:Â Spatial Practices, Volume: 40

Cover The Cultural Construction of Hidden Spaces

E-Book ISBN:: 9789004694729

Publisher:: Brill

Print Publication Date:: 07 May 2024

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Front Matter

Part 1 Room of Oneâs Own: Bags, Pockets and Boxes

Part 2 Pockets and Transgression

Part 3 Hidden Spaces, Magical and Supernatural

Part 4 Systems of Identity

Part 5 Artefacts: the Production of Hidden Space

Part 6 Hidden Space as Literary Trope

Part 7 Appendix

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Chapter 8 âA Mystery Whose Deepest Folds Were Gathered around the Dark Oak Cabinetâ

Uncovering the Secrets of Phantastes

Abstract

Citation Info

Share link with colleague or librarian

The Cultural Construction of Hidden Spaces

Essays on Pockets, Pouches and Secret Drawers

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Chapter 8 âA Mystery Whose Deepest Folds Were Gathered around the Dark Oak Cabinetâ