Flotsam: Retelling the Story The Huts that Jules Builds

“Flotsam: Retelling the Story The Huts that Jules Builds,” in Instituting Worlds: Architecture and Islands, Routledge, 2025, 200-215.

This visual essay practices ‘islandness’ to perform a feminist fairy tale. Here, ‘islandness’ refers to Brinklow’s advocation of islands as ‘an ideal setting for artists who take their inspiration from place […] they can experience an intensity of island living they might not otherwise have on a main island: boundedness and connection, isolation and community’1; Yi- Fu Tuan’s view of islands as imaginary realms beginning with watery chaos;2 and Conkling’s eloquent description of islandness as a metaphysical sensation brought on by a heightened experience of physical isolation that is reinforced by foreboding bodies of water drawing one closer to the natural environment.3 It pays homage to British author Angela Carter’s fictional twist on popular folk fairy tales, and, how her fairy tales critique the patriarchal roles ascribed to women throughout time. Known for her radical- libertarian feminist renditions of Red Riding Hood, Sleeping Beauty, and Blue Beard, Carter rewrites her female characters as strong independent and witty women often empowered by their surreal sexual encounters while giving a realistic yet magical view of the modern world.