Women in wheelchairs: Space, performance and hysteria in Libuse Moikova's 'Pavane fur eine Verstorbene Infantin' and Ines Eck's 'Steppenwolfidyllen'

Libuse Monikovas Pavane fur eine verstorbene Infantin and Ines Ecks Steppen wolfidyllen both have as their first-person narrator a woman who chooses to present herself as wheelchair-bound. This article examines how the notion of a female identity and voice is played out in two modes of discourse whic h converge on the image of the wheelchair, namely the spatial and the perfo rmative. The wheelchair demarcates personal space and acts as a prop for a performance of disability. This article shows how the texts in question ref lect these two aspects in a network of spatial representations and topograp hical metaphors, and in their concern with imitation and role-playing. More over, the wheelchair is also a room of ones own, a precondition of writing for the two women narrators. They develop narrative strategies based on mim icry and mutism, which are the strategies of the hysteric according to Luce Irigaray. It is shown how the notion of hysteria underlies Monikova's use of quotation and Ecks conspicuously unconventional typography. The hysteric s performance focuses on the body even while denying it authenticity. Ultim ately, then, the image of the wheelchair offers new perspectives on feminis t concerns with the body and with womens writing, particularly the notion o f 'Korper-Sprache'.