Dis/figuration in the stories of Jean Stafford

Abstract

This article explores the complex relationships between bodily change and psychic disturbance as represented in the stories of Jean Stafford. It is argued that Stafford is intensely aware of the significance of the material body in the formation of identity. Drawing on Freud's concept of the 'body ego', that is, the complex map of the body formed through interaction with the material world and with others, it is suggested that Stafford's fiction discloses the hidden, often disavowed connections between 'bodily sensations' or 'internal perceptions' and the ego