Courting Death in Hélia Correia's Adoecer

Abstract

Abstract:Adoecer (2010), Hélia Correia's latest novel, is her first of a truly biographical genre, based on the life of the famous Pre-Raphaelite model, Elizabeth Siddal. The aim of the article is to give an overview of the text, concentrating on aspects that characterize it as a novel that simultaneously courts death and defies it, by annulling the divide between past and present, thus replicating the gesture of the pair of lovers at the centre of its story who see themselves as doubles of Dante and Beatrice. Following closely in the footsteps of Correia's textual strategy and language, it explores the way in which Elizabeth Siddal uses her precarious state of health as a seduction strategy which culminates in her premature death, thus echoing the Pre-Raphaelite fascination with death and lethargic conditions, apparent in both their poetry and their paintings.