'Madness stripped away the niceties': Tara Calaby imagines herself into a 19th-century asylum

Tara Calaby, whose novel is based on research, draws on these voices and writes in between the gaps, or at the interstices, of historical evidence.

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https://theconversation.com/madness-stripped-away-the-niceties-tara-calaby-imagines-herself-into-a-19th-century-asylum-204736https://theconversation.com/madness-stripped-away-the-niceties-tara-calaby-imagines-herself-into-a-19th-century-asylum-204736
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Monday, June 26, 2023
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People, Gaps, Rape, Poverty, Punishment, Violence, Life, Accident, Speech, Nursing, Physician, Tree, Survival, House of Longe, Fear, DSM-IV codes, Taboo, Clothing, Light, Marriage, Woman, Head, Robin, Asylum, Research, Brain, Kew Asylum, Privacy, History, Language, Constraint, Complaint, Madness, Man, Hospital, Royal commission, Population, Patient, Police, Love, Water, Norm (mathematics), Text, Camping, Paper, Diagnosis, Personality, Assault, Interrupt, Imagination, The Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care, Hunger, Trauma, Mental health, Courage, House, Female, Nightclub, Pharmaceutical industry, Toy, Calaby's pademelon, Longing
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AUSTRALIA, VICTORIA, KEW
Summary
Key Points: 
  • Tara Calaby, whose novel is based on research, draws on these voices and writes in between the gaps, or at the interstices, of historical evidence.
  • Madness stripped away the niceties, that was all: the base drives of fear and hunger and wrath and lust were simply more visible here.
  • Madness stripped away the niceties, that was all: the base drives of fear and hunger and wrath and lust were simply more visible here.
  • Read more:
    Girl, Interrupted interrogates how women are 'mad' when they refuse to conform – 30 years on, this memoir is still important

Women’s secrets

    • Together they supply Melbourne’s professional middle class and elites with stationery: inks, paper, pens and ledgers.
    • The book opens with reference to the “noise and bustle of Elizabeth Street”.
    • While she possibly considers herself “plain” when judged alongside Melbourne’s society women and their fashionable dresses, Charlotte is a strong character with considerable presence.
    • Charlotte and Flora experience freedom by spending time together dressed as young men, camping in the bush east of Melbourne.
    • Read more:
      Trans people aren’t new, and neither is their oppression: a history of gender crossing in 19th-century Australia

Darkest moments and recovery

    • Charlotte is arrested by police, then hospitalised, where she is observed by doctors.
    • Charlotte becomes increasingly aware of the dynamics of the wards and the personalities of doctors and attendant nursing staff.
    • Calaby describes the asylum’s daily routine, such as menus, the gendered work regime for patients, and the hopeful intercession of visitors and advocates.
    • Some doctors were sympathetic figures who worked for the recovery of patients.
    • Read more:
      Hidden women of history: Catherine Hay Thomson, the Australian undercover journalist who went inside asylums and hospitals

Constraint and resistance

    • Her sinuses stung, her eyes watered; it felt like the tube must surely pass into her brain.
    • She tried to struggle, but the women held her tightly: she could move only her head.
    • Her sinuses stung, her eyes watered; it felt like the tube must surely pass into her brain.
    • And it’s a hopeful story about love and courage – which suggests alternative futures for women seeking independence from marriage and social norms.
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