Biopolitics and Eleanor Dark’s *Prelude to Christopher

â In 1934 Miles Franklin described Eleanor Darkâ s second novel, Prelude to Christopher, as â a terribly beautiful piece of workâ (128). One of Darkâ s earliest critics, Franklin attributed the bookâ s strength to the authorâ s deft handling of a tragic theme and â the urge to speak the naked truthâ (125). Later critics emphasised the bookâ s experimental style, especially its skilled handling o the multiple viewpoints, flashbacks and interior monologues associated with high modernism. By contrast, recent critics have focused on the novelâ s subject matter and Darkâ s engagement with the biopolitical norms that manifested in eugenics. This essay pursues that focus. It aims to flesh out the ways in which Darkâ s novel registers the potential impact of eugenics on liberal conceptions of freedom and to explore some of the ways in which it attempts to reclaim that freedomâ ¦' (From authorâ s introduction p. 76)

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