Border-Crossings in E. M. Forster’s “The Obelisk”: Opening a “Passage Out” of Normativity

This article examines E. M. Forster’s short story “The Obelisk,” published posthumously due to its homosexual theme. It highlights its various border-crossing strategies and its development of counter-spaces. In spite of its marginalisation in critical discussions, “The Obelisk” provides a privileged entry point for the study of Forster’s subversion of social, sexual and textual norms. Drawing on Michel Foucault’s concept of heterotopia, the article examines how Forster’s narrative opens up a “passage out” of normative constraints. To this end, it considers the titular obelisk as a symbol of both physical and metaphorical liminality, exploring how it facilitates the creation of “other” spaces. Additionally, the article investigates the way in which Forster draws on fantasy and facetiousness to play with normative structures, offering a text shaped by a dislocated landscape and language.