Exquisite Corpse, by Melbourne-based author Marija Peričić, is a disturbing book bordering horror novel. Disturbing, because its theme of control is so compellingly handled that contemporary readers can relate to it, despite the fact that it is based on a historical case in Florida in the 1930s.
Bordering horror, because the book delves into the power dynamics of the case, of gender, sex and violence, of social class differences, and of marriage as an institution. Because some aspects of these issues never seem to change, despite decades of collective efforts of individuals and communities to change them.
There is no doubt that our world today is far different from what it used to be, and we shudder while reading Exquisite Corpse because we can clearly see the problem and how it impacts those characters involved. We see how tuberculous weakens a family in Stockholm that is already poor, so that they have to accept help from a stranger.
We see how Dr Carl Dance takes advantage of the situation in order to lay his hands on young Lena, while persuading his wife Doris that “it is only right that we, being in a position to help, out to do so. It was our responsibility”. We see how he quickly finds excuses for his own lustful leer at her beauty and vulnerability:
“I could see that the Dahlstroms were in dire need of help, and I was in a position to give it. Simple. Sure, it might be true that I had a soft spot for Mrs Dahlstrom from the beginning, but she was so pleasant to be around that it would have been hard to find any man who wasn't a little sweet on her.”
Even Lena's death cannot free her from Dance's control, as he pays for her funeral, designs her coffin, arranges her embalming and builds her tomb – and proceeds to claim her as his bride. His desire to possess her becomes so desperate and dangerous that he moves her decaying corpse to his apartment in order to revive her.
Luckily, the story is narrated from the perspectives of not just Dance but also Doris, Lina's sister Greta, and Lina herself as a trapped soul. As unpleasant as it is to read about Dance's self-entitlement, we are rescued by Lina's voice as she starts to wrestle back control of the narrative. We are further liberated by Doris who fights for her independence even when everyone else tells her to “think of her wifely duty” and stand beside her husband.
Exquisite Corpse is not an easy read. However, as praised by Bec Kavanagh, a Melbourne-based writer and academic whose work examines the representation of women's bodies in literature: “A book like this doesn't want to be pleasurable. It is provocative and disquieting, a deliberate disturbance of the status quo of both today, and our bygone era.”
In the author's own words: “It's a story about misunderstanding and entitlement and coercion, and I wanted to bring those elements out.”