ABSTRACT
Binary thinking simultaneously collapses and reinforces, and it seems almost impossible to find an argument that remains consistent by the end of the text-an argument that does not undermine itself the second it appears on the page. This chapter looks closely at the figure of Mrs. Wilcox and how she functions in Howards End as a "sublime subject". In essence, Mrs. Wilcox inhabits the position of the traditional sublime object, which is usually inanimate and an object, and by placing Mrs. Wilcox in this position, Forster realigns the parameters of the sublime and its association with transcendence by shifting the moment of rupture from an encounter with a subject rather than an object. To make this argument, the chapter employs Lee Edelman's concept of the sinthomosexual. It examines the way the idealized Victorian mother offers a similar transcendent encounter due to her abject status in patriarchy.
