scholarly journals Aracnologias - As tecituras de Penélope

2009 ◽  
pp. 97-108
Author(s):  
Cristina Stevens
Keyword(s):  
Gender Studies ◽  
Margaret Atwood ◽  
Female Character ◽  
The Novel ◽  
And Gender

Resumo: Análise da personagem Penélope, de Homero, e a transformação ousada de Joyce dessa representação clássica da fidelidade feminina em Molly Bloom, a esposa infiel, sexualizada, trivial, lírica. Essas duas personagens são comparadas com sua mais recente recriação em The Penelopiad (2005), da escritora canadense Margaret Atwood. Uma importante categoria analítica dos estudos feministas e de gênero, a questão da voz é enfatizada na presente análise; essa personagem feminina é objeto da narrativa masculina (A Odisseia e Ulisses), mas no romance de Atwood essa personagem é sujeito de sua narrativa, elaborando uma tecitura “penelopeana” transgressora da versão clássica. Focalizaremos também o poder do silêncio na narrativa de autoria feminina, através do monólogo interior de Molly e da voz que fala do mundo dos mortos em The Penelopiad. Os conceitos de “abjeto” e “linguagem semiótica” de Kristeva são base para nosso trabalho, o qual problematiza a aparente imagem de passividade dessas mulheres que buscam o controle sobre suas vidas.Palavras-Chave: literaturas em língua inglesa; gênero; psicanálise.Abstract: Analysis of Homer’s Penelope and Joyce’s daring transformation of the classical personification of woman’s quintessential loyal wife into the unfaithful, earthly, sexualized, trivial, lyrical, Molly Bloom. These two characters will be compared with a more contemporary recreation: Margaret Atwood’s, in the novel The Penelopiad (2005). An important category for feminist and gender studies, voice/voicelessness is emphasized in our analysis; this female character, is both object of male-authored fiction (The Odyssey and Ulysses), and subject of the (un)weaving of a transgressive Penelopean “textile” (The Penelopiad). We also focus on the empowerment of “silence” in female narrative, through Molly´s interior monologue and Atwood’s Penelope, who speaks from the underworld. Kristeva’s concepts of the “abject” and “semiotic language” inform our analysis, which counters the image of passivity of these apparently mute women, who nevertheless retain control over their lives.Keywords: Literatures in English; gender; psychoanalysis.

scholarly journals “Un estado de la conciencia contemporánea”: género y moral en La sirena negra de Emilia Pardo Bazán

Neophilologus ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susana Bardavío Estevan
Keyword(s):  
Gender Studies ◽  
Gender Performance ◽  
Fin De Siecle ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Emilia Pardo Bazan ◽  
Sexuality And Gender ◽  
Fin De Siècle ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Emilia Pardo Bazán ◽  
Decadent Aesthetics

AbstractDespite Emilia Pardo Bazán’s prominent feminism, La sirena negra has been strangely overlooked by gender studies. When the novel was published in 1908, Gómez de Baquero judged it “non feminist” due to its superficial heroines and the centrality of its complex masculine characters. Academic studies of La sirena negra have not refuted this idea, since they have elided gender approaches to focus on its decadent aesthetics. This article argues, on the contrary, that the novel’s androcentrism can be read as a Pardo Bazan’s strategy to appropriate the patriarchal discourse and hold it responsible for national degeneration. Emilia Pardo Bazán was harshly affected by the fin-de-siècle crisis. In her opinion, Spanish decay came from a lack of solid morality. Thus, Catholic principles should be restored because they would provide the autoregulation mechanisms to regenerate and reassemble the country. Literature should show the new reality, and the French roman psychologique provided her with an appropriate model. La sirena negra sets out the problem of the moral anomie through its protagonist, Gaspar de Montenegro. The analysis of his sexuality and gender performance reveals the danger of this amoral behavior for the degeneration of society, attributed ultimately to the patriarchal order and the androcentric discourse.

scholarly journals A Cross-Examination of Female Masculinities and Male Femininities in Mema by Daniel Mengara

2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 384
Author(s):  
Ayodele A. Allagbé ◽  
Akinola M. Allagbé
Keyword(s):  
Queer Theory ◽  
Gender Studies ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Critical Reading ◽  
African Culture ◽  
Gendered Identities ◽  
Socially Constructed ◽  
Language And Gender ◽  
The Feminine ◽  
And Gender

<p><em>This paper attempts a critical reading of Mema (2003) written by Daniel Mengara. The study draws on insights from language and gender studies, feminism and queer theory to critically cross-examine how female masculinities and male femininities are represented in the novel. It holds the view that gendered identities are socially constructed via speech. This means that language encodes means which overtly mark masculinity or/and femininity. However, it should be noted that neither masculinity nor femininity is an exclusive characteristic of the male or the female sex/gender. In this sense, the role(s) an individual takes on in a given context confers either the masculine or the feminine profile upon him/her. This study concludes that gendered identities as portrayed in Mema are intricate, and that in most cases the portraiture of both sexes counters the expectations of African culture</em><em>.</em></p>

scholarly journals Margaret Atwood in the Second and Third Waves of Feminism on the Basis of Julia Kristeva’s Theories

2014 ◽  
Vol 40 ◽  
pp. 13-21
Author(s):  
Sarieh Alaei ◽  
Zahra Barfi
Keyword(s):  
Margaret Atwood ◽  
Julia Kristeva ◽  
Second Phase ◽  
Third Wave ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Sex And Gender ◽  
Female Characters ◽  
The Third ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Second Wave

Although Margaret Atwood started writing in the second phase of feminism, some of her works show the features of the second and the third wave of feminism. It’s clear in Atwood’s Cat’s Eye. Elaine, protagonist of the novel, and other female characters indicate these features. Some of Atwood’s works imply Kristeva’s theories. Unlike the second wave of feminism, Julia Kristeva as a postmodern feminist rejects the distinction between sex and gender believing that these two terms respectively represent biology and culture which cannot be separated from each other. This idea can be examined in Margaret Atwood’s novel, Cat’s Eye, as a feature of the third wave of feminism. The authors of this article seek to analyze Atwood’s famous novel, Cat’s Eye, in the second and third waves of feminism based on Julia Kristeva’s theories.

scholarly journals THE PECULIARITIES OF A FEMALE PROTAGONIST IN A. BRONTË’S EPISTOLARY NOVEL

2019 ◽  
pp. 25-39
Author(s):  
Juan de Dios Torralbo Caballero ◽  
Violeta Janulevičienė
Keyword(s):  
Gender Studies ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Victorian Era ◽  
Epistolary Novel ◽  
Societal Norms ◽  
Female Protagonist ◽  
Emerging Issues ◽  
And Gender

This paper offers a study of the less known today and less analysed epistolary novel by Anne Brontë’s The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. It focuses on the instances of female protagonist's unconventional behaviour according to the existing societal norms of the Victorian era. The research aims at pointing out the reasons modifying heroine’s behaviour and analysis of the reactions that the protagonist’s acts of nonconformity elicits in other characters of the novel. The undertaken study is believed to raise awareness of less studied Brontë sisters works in university literature and gender studies courses, as it touches upon the emerging issues of the female strength in the Victorian society.

scholarly journals Lewis Barnavelt and the Rainbow over New Zebedee: Queering The House with a Clock in Its Walls

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-108
Author(s):  
Maciej Skowera
Keyword(s):  
Queer Theory ◽  
Gender Studies ◽  
Motion Picture ◽  
Film Adaptation ◽  
The Novel ◽  
And Gender

The paper discusses The House with a Clock in Its Walls (1973) by John Bellairs and its film adaptation, directed by Eli Roth (2018), from queer theory and gender studies perspectives. The author of the article aims to overview and develop existing queer in‑terpretations of the first novel in the Lewis Barnavelt series, with contextual references to the cycle’s subsequent volumes, and to conduct a queer theory ‑inspired analysis of Roth’s motion picture. The genre represented by the novel and the film is also consid‑ered by taking the scholarly reflections on the queer aspects of the Gothic and the hor‑ror into account. The author concludes that although both versions of the story fail at portraying femininity in an unconventional way, they succeed in showing that queer‑ness and, more generally, the Otherness should be highly appreciated and valued.

Consistent Inconsistencies: The Transvestite Actress Madame Vestris and Charlotte Brontë's Shirley

1996 ◽  
Vol 50 (4) ◽  
pp. 464-488 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elliott Vanskike
Keyword(s):  
Female Character ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Factory Owner ◽  
Patriarchal Culture ◽  
Male Dominated ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Title Character

In this paper I propose the transvestite actress Madame Vestris as an interpretive doppelgänger for the title character in Charlotte Brontë's novel Shirley. Vestris crossed gender lines not only in her cross-dressed performances on the Victorian stage but also in her incursion into the male-dominated realm of theater ownership. In this way she is like Shirley Keeldar, the fiercely independent female factory owner whom Brontë consistently depicts in masculine terms. Most critics read Shirley as a narrative and thematic fiasco because the protofeminist momentum that the novel accumulates from Brontë's portrayal of an independent, headstrong female character is brought to a halt when Shirley subjugates herself to a meek and weasly man. The ending of the novel has been almost unanimously dismissed as Brontë's submission to the very patriarchal culture that she set out to critique when she created the character of Shirley Keeldar. However, far from being the low point of Brontë's writing, the ending of the novel elevates the writing into a high satirical mode that only serves to intensify Brontë's criticism of society's treatment of women. Through reading Shirley by means of the narrative and gender disruptions that Vestris's performances staged, we can understand this curious narrative reversal at the end of the novel as a motivated strategy on the part of Brontë, not a lapse of craft.

scholarly journals Princesses in the Suburbs: Reading The Virgin Suicides as a Fairytale

2021 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Moureta Lingkar Maharani
Keyword(s):  
Gender Studies ◽  
Literary Work ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Male Gaze ◽  
The Gaze ◽  
Literature Reading ◽  
Library Research ◽  
Long Time ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Very High

<p>The concept of male gaze has been present for a very long time. It is present in literature, albeit literature being an entirely different media. In <em>The Virgin Suicides </em>by Jeffrey Eugenides, this theme seems to be very apparent along with themes such as voyeurism and objectifications. Drawing on the structuralist and gender studies, this article emphasizes about the effect of the male gaze and how this specific way of viewing affects the girls in a way that it shifts their function as a character, by reading the novel as a fairytale—a form of literary work of which the elements are easy to understand—helped by Vladimir Propp’s theory of <em>dramatis personae</em>. The findings attained from literature reading and library research concludes that the way the neighborhood boys' view of the Lisbon girls does affect their roles in the story. I argue that the Lisbon girls were put on a very high pedestal since the very beginning; therefore positions them as the fairytale princess. However, due to the nature of the gaze applied in the work, there are possibilities that it may shift to other characters.</p><p> </p>

Diaghilev and British Writing

2009 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-92
Author(s):  
Susan Jones
Keyword(s):  
Visual Arts ◽  
The Body ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Literary Responses ◽  
Literary Aesthetics ◽  
Ballets Russes ◽  
The Arts ◽  
The Subject ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Opening Up

This article explores the diversity of British literary responses to Diaghilev's project, emphasising the way in which the subject matter and methodologies of Diaghilev's modernism were sometimes unexpectedly echoed in expressions of contemporary British writing. These discussions emerge both in writing about Diaghilev's work, and, more discretely, when references to the Russian Ballet find their way into the creative writing of the period, serving to anchor the texts in a particular cultural milieu or to suggest contemporary aesthetic problems in the domain of literary aesthetics developing in the period. Figures from disparate fields, including literature, music and the visual arts, brought to their criticism of the Ballets Russes their individual perspectives on its aesthetics, helping to consolidate the sense of its importance in contributing to the inter-disciplinary flavour of modernism across the arts. In the field of literature, not only did British writers evaluate the Ballets Russes in terms of their own poetics, their relationship to experimentation in the novel and in drama, they developed an increasing sense of the company's place in dance history, its choreographic innovations offering material for wider discussions, opening up the potential for literary modernism's interest in impersonality and in the ‘unsayable’, discussions of the body, primitivism and gender.

Minorities in the Contemporary Egyptian Novel

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Youssef
Keyword(s):  
Literary History ◽  
First Century ◽  
Nation State ◽  
Colonial Rule ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Robust Analysis ◽  
Specific Approach ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Context Specific ◽  
Historical Moment

This book examines questions of identity, nationalism, and marginalization in the contemporary Egyptian novel from a postcolonial lens. Under colonial rule, the Egyptian novel invoked a sovereign nation-state by basking in its perceived unity. After independence, the novel professed disenchantment with state practices and unequal class and gender relations, without disrupting the nation’s imagined racial and ethno-religious homogeneity. This book identifies a trend in the twenty-first-century Egyptian novel that shatters this singular view, with the rise of a new consciousness that presents Egypt as fundamentally heterogeneous. Through a robust analysis of “new-consciousness” novels by authors like Idris ᶜAli, Bahaᵓ Tahir, Miral al-Tahawi, and Yusuf Zaydan, the author argues that this new consciousness does not only respond to predominant discourses of difference and practices of differentiation along the axes of race, ethno-religion, class, and gender by bringing the experiences of Nubian, Amazigh, Bedouin, Coptic, Jewish, and women minorities to the fore of Egypt’s literary imaginary, but also heralds the cacophony of voices that collectively cried for social justice from Tahrir Square in Egypt’s 2011-uprising. This study responds to the changing iconographic, semiotic, and formal features of the Egyptian novel. It fulfills the critical task of identifying an emergent novelistic genre and develops historically reflexive methodologies that interpret new-consciousness novels and their mediatory role in formalizing and articulating their historical moment. By adopting this context-specific approach to studying novelistic evolution, this book locates some of the strands that have been missing from the complex whole of Egypt’s culture and literary history.

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