The function of national others’ images in Josephine Tey’s novel Miss Pym Disposes

Josephine Tey (real name Elisabeth MacKintosh, also known as Daviot Gordon, 1896-1952) is a well known mystery writer. In this article we discuss one of her most significant novels, Miss Pym Disposes (1946). We focus on how issues related to national identity are presented in the novel and how they help revealing the character of the criminal and the detective. In this regard, the fact that the writer belongs to a mixed family is important for us: her father is Scottish and her mother is English. Elizabeth Mackintosh spent most of her life in Scotland and only at the end of her life moved to London. Researchers of her work highlight the importance of the national themes in her novels. The action of the novel Miss Pym Disposes takes place in a British school of the mid-twentieth century. The plot is connected with the mysterious murder of one of the schoolgirls. The very space of a closed school for girls, an enclosed women’s world almost without any men, is presented in two ways. At first, Miss Pym is captivated by the prevailing atmosphere; however, subsequent depressing events confirm the abnormality of the entire situation. The college world is multicultural, with all students constantly being assessed in terms of their nationality. One of the most interesting images of the novel is Desterro. She is a bright, attractive girl from Brazil who seems to rebel against the rules and values of the college. Desterro’s mother is French, which already makes her otherness double-layered. The characteristics she gives to England and the English are always ambivalent: she admires English men and criticizes English women. At the same time, she clearly admires England and the English, and she herself demonstrates English common sense when, after graduating from college, she decides to marry her English cousin. Characterizing representatives of different nations, Miss Desterro divides nations into those who have enthusiasm (English, German) and those who do not (Swedish and Scottish). The Swede Fru Gustavsen also speaks quite ironically about the English. In addition, there are representatives of the “internal” others in the novel. They display completely cliched and stereotypical national traits: the Welsh Thomas is lazy and not very promising, the Irish O’Donnell is poor. For obvious reasons, the writer pays the most attention to Scots. Two heroines are representatives of this ethnic group: Campbell and Stewart. They become the embodiment of two different regions of Scotland, and thus different worldviews. One of the central figures in the novel is Miss Rouse, who becomes the victim of the murder. She is not characterized in terms of national identity, but only of regional one. From the very beginning to the end she is designated as a “northerner”. Thus, the “external” and “internal” others in the novel become a way to reveal the essence of the English worldview in a more profound way. The authors declare no conflicts of interests.

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