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Donovan, Kathleen McNerney. "Coming to voice: Native American literature and feminist theory." Diss., The University of Arizona, 1994. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/186769.
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This dissertation argues that numerous parallels exist between Native American literature, especially that by women, and contemporary feminist literary and cultural theories, as both seek to undermine the hierarchy of voice: who can speak? what can be said? when? how? under what conditions? After the ideas find voice, what action is permitted to women? All of these factors influence what African American cultural theorist bell hooks terms the revolutionary gesture of "coming to voice." These essays explore the ways Native American women have voiced their lives through the oral tradition and through writing. For Native American women of mixed blood, the crucial search for identity and voice must frequently be conducted in the language of the colonizer, English, and in concert with a concern for community and landscape. Among the topics addressed in the study are (1) the negotiation of identity of those who must act in more than one culture; (2) ethnocentrism in ethnographic reports of tribal women's lives; (3) misogyny in a "canonical" Native American text; (4) the ethics of intercultural literary collaboration; (5) commonality in inter-cultural texts; and (6) transformation through rejection of Western privileging of opposition, polarity, and hierarchy.
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Bethune, Carol. ""The pleasures of the mind" : themes in early feminist literature in England, 1660-1730." Thesis, McGill University, 1993. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=69608.
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This thesis examines the writing in poetry and prose of a small group of English feminist writers of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. The best known of these authors was Mary Astell (1666-1731). The influence on the feminists' ideas of the philosophies of Descartes and of the most prominent English thinkers of the period, the Cambridge Platonists, is described.The thesis focuses on three main themes in the seventeenth century feminists' writing. These were occupation, education and marriage. Emphasis is put on education as the most important of the feminists' concerns. They believed that the poor education women received in comparison with that received by men put women at a disadvantage in society in general and in personal relationships with men. They also believed that education was vital for personal happiness and spiritual fulfillment. In their writing about occupation, the feminists stated that the things that middle and upper class women were expected to do were unfulfilling. They wanted the right to occupy themselves with reading and writing without facing ridicule. On the subject of marriage the feminists' main concern also centred around education. They believed that women were at a disadvantage in the marriage relationship because they were not as well educated as their husbands. They thought that more equitable marriages were desirable, and that they would exist if women were better educated.
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James, Sarah J. "Not without my body : feminist science fiction and embodied futures." Thesis, University of St Andrews, 2004. http://hdl.handle.net/10023/14613.
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This study explores the interaction between feminist science fiction and feminist theory, focusing on the body and embodiment. Specifically, it aims to demonstrate that feminist science fiction novels of the 1990s offer an excellent platform for exploring the critical theories of the body put forward by Judith Butler in particular, and other feminist/queer theorists in general. The thesis opens with a brief history of science fiction's depiction of the body and feminist science fiction's subversions and rewritings of this, as well as an overview of Judith Butler's theories relating to the body and embodiment. It then considers a wide range of feminist science fiction novels from the 1990s, focusing on four key areas; bodies materialised outside patriarchal systems in women-only or women-ruled worlds, alien bodies, cyborg bodies and bodies in cyberspace. An in-depth analysis of the selected texts reveals that they have important contributions to make to the consideration of bodies as they develop and expand the issues raised by theorists such as Butler, Elisabeth Grosz, Luce Irigaray and Julia Kristeva.
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Taghavie-Moghadam, Mariah. "A Miraculous Deliverance: An Adaptation Through Historical Criticism and Feminist Theory." VCU Scholars Compass, 2019. https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/etd/5740.
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This thesis attempts to reconstruct the narrative of Anne Greene, a young female servant in 1650 England that was wrongfully found guilty of infanticide and made into a spectacle by her peers as an example of what happens when one breaks societies gender norms and is met by the influence of the gender politics of the period. Her female body was objectified and placed on display by a ritual performance of the hangman’s noose and the criminal corpse to further the process of by maintaining fear among members of the population, especially rebellious women. Thus, making Anne Greene a subversive figure, victimized by a patriarchal society, a trope that remains relevant today. By way of literary adaptation, explorations of bodily practice, and engagements with the historical archive this thesis allows Anne Greene’s disembodied figure to unfold as a narrative and visual tool in history. This study and the accompanying original play text allow Anne Greene to become an essential figure to feminist studies and continuing struggles for equality in the era of the “Me too” social narrative.
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Macfarlane, Karen E. "The politics of self-narration : contemporary Canadian women writers, feminist theory and metafictional strategies." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1998. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk1/tape11/PQDD_0016/NQ44504.pdf.
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Slagle, Judith Bailey. "Punctuated by the Pen: Representations of History, Criticism and Feminism in the Letters of Joanna Baillie." Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University, 2012. https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu-works/3226.
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Drodge, Susan. "The feminist romantic, the revisionary rhetoric of Double negative, Naked poems, and Gyno-text." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1996. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk3/ftp04/nq25770.pdf.
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Naidu, Sam. "Towards a transnational feminist aesthetic: an analysis of selected prose writing by women of the South Asian diaspora." Thesis, Rhodes University, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1012941.
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This thesis argues that women writers of the South Asian diaspora are inscribing a literary aesthetic which is recognisably feminist. In recent decades women of the South Asian diaspora have risen to the forefront of the global literary and publishing arena, winning acclaim for their endeavours. The scope of this literature is wide, in terms of themes, styles, genres, and geographic location. Prose works range from grave novelistic explorations of female subjectivity to short story collections intent on capturing historical injustices and the experiences of migration. The thesis demonstrates, through close readings and comparative frameworks, that an overarching pattern of common aesthetic elements is deployed in this literature. This deployment is regarded as a transnational feminist practice.
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Mills, Rebecca May. "'Thanks for that elegant defense' : polemical prose and poetry by women in the early eighteenth century." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2000. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:d98a502d-97b4-4dd2-b5e6-1f8c432b5cb7.
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The end of the seventeenth century and the beginning of the eighteenth saw many women writers from numerous social ranks, political affiliations and religious denominations reading, writing, circulating and publishing polemical prose and poetry in defence of their sex. During this surge of protofeminist activity, many of these women decried 'Customs Tyranny' by advocating a more egalitarian status for themselves, especially in regard to marriage, education and religion. This thesis, then, is a socio-historic study of the lives and writings of several polemical women writers, namely, Mary Astell (1666-1731), Mary, Lady Chudleigh (1656-1710) and Elizabeth Thomas (1675-1731). It also considers how and why protofeminism evolved in the late seventeenth century and reached a climax between 1694, when Astell published A Serious Proposal to the Ladies, and 1710, when Chudleigh published Essays upon Several Subjects. Until now, scholars of early women writers have labelled Astell the foremost English feminist of her day. Consequently, many of her contemporary protofeminist writers have been neglected. By contextualizing their lives and texts within the political and literary activity at the turn of the eighteenth century, this thesis ultimately argues that women polemicists, such as Chudleigh and Thomas, who followed Astell into print, were not merely echoes and disciples. Rather, they furthered the evolution and secularization of a genre that anticipates feminism proper, which began to develop in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. In order to uncover and rediscover the personal and professional details of these women's lives their class, education, friendships and patronage relationships this thesis relied heavily upon material evidence such as letters, parish records, legal records, prison records and wills. As a result, it combines feminist, materialist inclinations with traditional methodology, such as historical and archival research.
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Hill, Sydney M. "She must write her self, feminist poetics of deconstruction and inscription : six Canadian women writing." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1998. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk2/tape15/PQDD_0025/MQ26957.pdf.
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Lo, Keng-chi, and 盧勁馳. "Politicizing female subjectivity: performativity and sublimation in leftist writers Yang Mo, Xiao Hong." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 2012. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B48199503.
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The thesis deals with the concept of feminine sublimation among Chinese feminist writings and theory. Previous feminist readings of literary works of Chinese female writers tended to confuse the Freudian concept of sublimation with “aestheticized politics” and utopian desire. These feminist readings have concentrated on articulating an authentic subject beyond power relations. I would however, redefine the concept of feminine sublimation as a theoretical trope to articulate the possible emergence of female subjectivity within specific power relations.
Although gender performativity has become a universally circulated concept to theorize the subversive depiction of female bodies in particular cultural contexts, I argue that any performative reiteration would not be adequately contextualized and historicized when its usage ignores issues of female subjectivity in terms of sublimation.
Chapter one of the thesis begins with various feminist approaches to the relationship of sublimation and performativity. Chapter two re-reads a novel Song of Youth in the socialist era. The conventional conception of sublimation is re-examined contextually in a way that the consideration of gender performativity alone would not be able to do.
Through reading a canonical work of the “nationalist feminist” writer Xiao Hong, chapter three delineates the relation between my redefined concept of feminine sublimation and the possibility of political coalition, and explains how this relation provides a totally different understanding of performative reiteration. I would finally redefines the fundamental relationship between feminist subjectivity and performative politics.published_or_final_version
Comparative Literature
Master
Master of Philosophy
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Goremusandu, Tania. "Gender possibilities in the African context as explored by Mariama Ba's So long a letter, Neshani Andrea's The purple violet of Oshaantu and Sindiwe Magona's Beauty gift." Thesis, University of Fort Hare, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/10353/6469.
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Gender oppression has been a significant discussion to the development of gender, cultural and feminist theories. The primary focus of this study is to investigate how patriarchal traditions, colonialism, and religious oppression force women to struggle under constrictions oppositional to empowerment. Thus, the project provides a comparative analysis of three texts from different African postcolonial societies by three African female writers: Mariama Bâ, Neshani Andreas and Sindiwe Magona. The author‟s biographies and historical context of their novels will be analyzed, as well as a summary of their stories will be included in order to provide the context for gender criticism. These writer‟s work; So Long a Letter, The Purple Violet of Oshaantu and Beauty‟s Gift depict patriarchal, cultural and religious laws which exist in Senegal, Namibia and South Africa, respectively, that limit the position of women. Therefore, this study will interrogate the experience of African women as inscribed in these selected texts, uncovering the literary expressions of gender oppression as well as the possibilities of empowerment. The selected texts will be analyzed through the lens of Gender studies, African feminism and Cultural studies. From these theories, the focus of the study is on the struggles of the female characters living in patriarchal societies as well as on the idea that gender is constructed socially and culturally in the African context. In conclusion, the emergence of these renowned female African writers together with the emancipation of African countries from colonial supremacy has opened a space for women to compensate and correct the stereotyped female images in African literature and post- colonial societies. Most contemporary African writers like Buchi Emecheta, Tsitsi Dangarembga, Sindiwe Magona, Mariama Bâ and Neshani Andreas have shown that women are seeking to attain empowerment. As a result, this study can be viewed as an opportunity to highlight such experiences by continuing to interrogate the writings of African women writers and to explore their gender-based themes so as to inform and or inspire the implementation of women empowerment. It will broaden and encourage further academic discussion in the field of Cultural studies and gender criticism of women‟s literature within the African context.
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Neufeld, Christine Marie. "Xanthippe's sisters : orality and femininity in the later Middle Ages." Thesis, McGill University, 2001. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=38251.
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This dissertation contributes to medieval feminist scholarship by forging new insights into the relationship between gender theory and developing notions of orality and textuality in late medieval Europe. I examine three conventional satirical depictions of women as deviant speakers in medieval literature---as loquacious gossips, scolding shrews and cursing witches---to reveal how medieval perceptions of oral and textual discursive modes influenced literary representations of women. The dissertation demonstrates that our comprehension of the literary battle between the sexes requires a recognition and understanding of how discursive modes were gendered in a culture increasingly defining itself in terms of textuality. My work pursues the juxtaposition of the rational, literate male and the irrational, oral female across a wide range of texts, from Dunbar and Chaucer's courtly literature, to more socially diffused works, such as carols, sermon exempla and the Deluge mystery plays, as well as texts, like Margery Kempe's autobiography and witchcraft documents, that pertain to historical women. I demonstrate the social impact of this convention by anchoring these literary texts in their socio-historical context. The significance of my identification of this nexus of orality and femininity is that I am able to delineate an ideology profoundly affecting the way women's speech and writings have been received and perceived for centuries. This notion of gendered discourse can also redefine how we perceive medieval literature. Mikhail Bakhtin's discursive principles---ideas that stem from his application of the dynamics of oral communication and performance to the literary text---help to liberate new meanings from old texts by allowing us to read against the grain of convention. Both Bakhtin's theory of dialogism and Walter Ong's summary of the psychodynamics of orality suggest that orally influenced discourse is less interested in monolithic truth than in the art of tellin
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Chou, Mei-ching Tammy, and 周美貞. "Feminism and the representations of teenaged girls in 20th century children's literature." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 2005. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B31940201.
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Compion, Marlette. "'n Ondersoek na Scheherazade as moontlike voorganger in 'n vroulike verteltradisie in enkele Afrikaanse literêre tekste." Thesis, Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch, 2005. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/2024.
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Thesis (MA (Afrikaans and Dutch))—University of Stellenbosch, 2005.The aim of this study is to investigate the position that has been allocated to women authors by literary theorists. Some literary theorists are of the opinion that the action of writing can be compared to fatherhood, ownership and being a creator, all of which are male dominated images. Women writers have historically been marginalized by literary theorists, since there is a perception that women cannot write because they are not male. Harold Bloom has postulated that a male writer looks to a precursor in order to write and find his own voice. Before the writer can claim his own, original voice, he must enter into an Oedipal battle with the precusor, and, figuratively speaking, ‘kill’ him in his writing. According to Gilbert & Gubar, who serve here as representatives of the feminist literary theorists, women writers make use of monsterlike figures which serve as metaphors for the inner battle they have to endure to put pen to paper. The problem, however, is that women writers have no (female) precursors to look to. Elaine Showalter postulates 4 models that women writers may use in search of a female precursor or female body of writing, but she does not offer a clear solution. I am of the opinion that women writers can identity with a female figure or role model. The figure that I propose is Scheherazade, a storytelling character from the Thousand and One Nights, who told stories for a thousand and one nights in order for escape death. I identify a few texts from international literature that make use of this figure, whether as a character in the text, a metaphor for the female character who tells stories or as a metaphor for the author herself. This study focuses on texts from 3 genres in Afrikaans literature, namely children’s stories, short stories and a novel. It appears from the analysis of the texts that women writers have successfully made use of the Scheherazade character, to address issues concerning the social role and position allocated to women by a patriarchial society. Along with this women writers’ search and longing for a voice of their own and their own identity gets highlighted with the use of a Scheherazade-like female character who tells stories. Lastly it became clear that this figure is also being used by women writers to contemplate the dynamics of writing and to contextualise the role that self-doubt and self-actualisation play in telling and writing stories. Scheherazade thus becomes a vehicle for finding a voice as well as agency.
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Morais, Inacia Maria Paiva Martins de. "O feminino na literatura Macaense." Thesis, University of Macau, 2006. http://umaclib3.umac.mo/record=b1873163.
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Silva, Franciane Conceição da. "Armadilhas do corpo: uma leitura de gênero em Isabel Ferreira." Universidade Federal de Viçosa, 2014. http://locus.ufv.br/handle/123456789/4895.
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This thesis aims to study the novel O guardador de memórias (2008), the Angolan writer Isabel Ferreira. In this context, in critical reading on the novel, initially, was an attempt to highlight the process of deterritorialization of language and of the characters Kiluva and Ana Medrante, which escaped through a discourse of insubordination. For this analysis, it has been used the theories by Deleuze and Guattari, in the book Kafka: por uma literatura menor (1977). Besides the criticism about female characters, we also analyzed the male characters Kafrique and Hunende, men who see themselves compelled to redefine their subjectivity against the freedom of women. For a better understanding of the context in which it sets out the voice of the author, it discusses the process of formation and solidification of Angolan literature. Thus, considering the long road traveled by women to be recognized as authors of their own stories, by making a brief trajectory of the feminist movement, bringing forth an approach to black feminism, based on the assumptions of bell hooks. To complement that, we have brought a discussion about the identity crisis of contemporary men, who when faced with the emancipation of women, has been forced to revise their roles in patriarchal society. Thus, the approaches developed with this thesis aim primarily to make the voice of black to be heard, women, writers or not, who have undergone a process of exclusion and silencing throughout its history.
Esta dissertação tem como objetivo estudar o romance O guardador de memórias (2008), da escritora angolana Isabel Ferreira. Nesse contexto, na leitura crítica da obra, inicialmente, atentou-se ao processo de desterritorialização da linguagem das personagens Kiluva e Ana Medrante, que se libertam através de um discurso de insubmissão. Para essa análise, nos embasamos nas teorias de Deleuze e Guattari, presentes no seu livro Kafka, por uma literatura menor (1977). Além da crítica das personagens femininas, analisamos também os personagens masculinos Kafrique e Hunende, homens que se veem impelidos em redefinir sua subjetividade perante a liberdade das mulheres. Para uma melhor compreensão do contexto em que se enuncia a voz da autora, discutimos o processo de formação e solidificação da literatura angolana. Desse modo, considerando-se o longo percurso percorrido pelas mulheres para que fossem reconhecidas como autoras de suas próprias historias, fizemos uma breve trajetória do movimento feminista, trazendo à tona uma abordagem do feminismo negro, embasando-nos nas teorias de bell hooks. Para complementar essa abordagem, trouxemos uma discussão sobre a crise de identidade do homem contemporâneo, que ao se deparar com a emancipação feminina, viu-se obrigado a rever os seus papéis na sociedade patriarcal. Assim, as abordagens desenvolvidas nessa dissertação pretendem, sobretudo, fazer ouvir a voz das mulheres negras, escritoras ou não, que foram submetidas a um processo de exclusão e silenciamento durante toda a sua história.
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Pang, Tian Yang. "Lisa See's Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, the Lao Tong relationship from a feminist perspective." Thesis, University of Macau, 2018. http://umaclib3.umac.mo/record=b3953434.
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Collins, Margo. "Wayward Women, Virtuous Violence: Feminine Violence in Restoration and Eighteenth-Century British Literature by Women." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2000. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc2474/.
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This dissertation examines the role of "acceptable" feminine violence in Restoration and eighteenth-century drama and fiction. Scenes such as Lady Davers's physical assault on Pamela in Samuel Richardson's Pamela (1740) have understandably troubled recent scholars of gender and literature. But critics, for the most part, have been more inclined to discuss women as victims of violence than as agents of violence. I argue that women in the Restoration and eighteenth century often used violence in order to maintain social boundaries, particularly sexual and economic ones, and that writers of the period drew upon this tradition of acceptable feminine violence in order to create the figure of the violent woman as a necessary agent of social control. One such figure is Violenta, the heroine of Delarivier Manley's novella The Wife's Resentment (1720), who murders and dismembers her bigamous husband. At her trial, Violenta is condemned to death "notwithstanding the Pity of the People" and "the Intercession of the Ladies," who believe that although the "unexampled Cruelty [Violenta] committed afterwards on the dead Body" was excessive, the murder itself is not inexcusable given her husband's bigamy. My research draws upon diverse archival materials, such as conduct manuals, criminal biographies, and legal records, in order to provide a contextual grounding for the interpretation of literary works by women. Moving between contemporary accounts of feminine violence and discussions of pertinent literary works by Eliza Haywood, Susanna Centlivre, Delarivier Manley, Aphra Behn, Mary Pix, and Jane Wiseman, the dissertation examines issues of interpersonal violence and communal violence committed by women.
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Leite, Letticia Batista Rodrigues. "Sobre os fragmentos poeticos de Safo de Lesbos e ideias da existencia de uma voz feminina : reflexões sobre Historia, Linguistica e Literatura." [s.n.], 2009. http://repositorio.unicamp.br/jspui/handle/REPOSIP/279188.
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Orientador: Pedro Paulo Abreu FunariDissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Filosofia e Ciencias Humanas
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Resumo: O objetivo central desta dissertação é problematizar como a relação linguagem/discurso aparece intimamente relacionada à questão do sexo/gênero, no âmbito dos trabalhos dos estudiosos que se propuseram a tratar dos fragmentos poéticos de Safo. Para tanto, realizase um exercício de tradução e leitura analítica de quatro fragmentos da poetisa grega Safo de Lesbos (VII-VI a.C.). Exercício este, que visa destacar alguns aspectos formais e de conteúdo presentes nestes fragmentos, tendo em vista que alguns estudiosos buscam, a partir destes, sublinhar uma singularidade presente nos compostos sáficos, que seria atribuível ao fato de que estes dariam a ouvir uma voz feminina. Nessa perspectiva, buscarse-á, também, apontar e problematizar os principais pressupostos teóricos que, em diferentes medidas, perpassam os trabalhos destes estudiosos - no que diz respeito as suas concepções da relação linguagem/discurso e sexo/gênero daquele que enuncia. Para tanto, propor-se-á, aqui, uma discussão acerca das maneiras pelas quais as questões relativas à linguagem, em interface com as discussões de caráter feminista, aparecem, sobretudo, no âmbito da disciplina histórica e da literatura. Assim como, chamar a atenção para as particularidades que devem ser levadas em consideração, no trato com as composições gregas de caráter poético produzidas no Período Arcaico (VIII - VI a.C.)
Abstract: The main objective of this dissertation is to discuss how the relation between language/discourse is closely connected with the question of sex/gender, in the work of scholars who seek to study the fragments of Sappho's poems. To accomplish this, there will be an exercise in translating and analytically reading four fragments by the Greek poet Sappho of Lesbos (VII-VI BC). This exercise aims to highlight some formal and contentoriented aspects present in these fragments, since some scholars have sought to stress a singularity in this sapphic compositions, owing to the fact that they would allow us to hear a female voice. Accordingly, this research wants to emphasize and study the theoretical assumptions that, in different ways, permeate the work of these scholars - regarding the conceptualization of the liaison between language/discourse and sex/gender of who enounces. In order to do so, a discussion will be held on the manners in which the issues of language, in interface with the discussions of feminist character, appear, especially in History and literature, drawing attention to the particularities that should be taken into account when dealing with the Greek poetic compositions produced in the Archaic period (VIII - VI BC)
Mestrado
Historia Cultural
Mestre em História
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Gallagher, Maureen. "Thinking Back through Our Fathers: Woolf Reading Shakespeare in Orlando and a Room of One's Own." unrestricted, 2008. http://etd.gsu.edu/theses/available/etd-07112008-152735/.
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Thesis (M.A.)--Georgia State University, 2008.Title from file title page. Randy Malamud, committee chair; Meg Harper, Paul Schmidt, committee members. Electronic text (61 p.) : digital, PDF file. Description based on contents viewed Oct. 3, 2008. Includes bibliographical references (p. 58-61).
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Young, Erin S. "Corporate heroines and utopian individualism: A study of the romance novel in global capitalism." Thesis, University of Oregon, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/1794/11460.
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x, 195 p. A print copy of this thesis is available through the UO Libraries. Search the library catalog for the location and call number.This dissertation explores two subgenres of popular romance fiction that emerge in the 1990s: "corporate" and "paranormal" romance. While the formulaic conventions of popular romance have typically centralized the gendered tension between hero and heroine, this project reveals that "corporate" and "paranormal" romances negotiate a new primary conflict, the tension between work and home in the era of global capitalism. Transformations in political economy also occur at the level of personal and emotional life, which constitute the central problem that contemporary romances attempt to resolve. Drawing from sociological studies of globalization and intimacy, feminist criticism, and queer theory, I argue that these subgenres mark the transition from what David Harvey calls Fordist capitalism to flexible or global capitalism as the primary social condition negotiated in the popular romance. My analysis demonstrates that corporate and paranormal romance novels reflect changing ideals about intimacy in a globalized world that is increasingly influenced, socially and culturally, by the values and philosophies that dominate the marketplace. Each of these subgenres offers a distinct formal resolution to the cultural and social effects of a flexible capitalist economy. The "corporate" romances of Jayne Ann Krentz, Nora Roberts, Elizabeth Lowell, and Katherine Stone feature heroines who constantly navigate the dual and intersecting arenas of work and home in an effort to locate a balance that leads to success and happiness in both realms. In contrast, the "paranormal" romances of Laurell K. Hamilton, Charlaine Harris, Kelley Armstrong, and Carrie Vaughn dissolve the tension between home and work, or the private and the public, by affirming the heroine's open and endless pursuit of pleasure, adventure, and self-fulfillment. Such new forms of romantic fantasy at once reveal the tension in globalization and the domination of corporate and masculinist values that the novels hope to overcome.
Committee in charge: David Leiwei Li, Chair; Mary Elene Wood; Cynthia H. Tolentino; Jiannbin L. Shiao
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Muus, Elaine Janice. "Articulate bodies, or, Encore, en corps, sense-ing the body as (re)presentation of women's subjectivities." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1997. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk2/ftp01/MQ26934.pdf.
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Lindstrom, Alexandra Elizabeth Anita. "A skeptical feminist exploration of binary dystopias in Marion Zimmer Bradley's The mists of Avalon." CSUSB ScholarWorks, 2005. https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd-project/2742.
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In Marion Zimmer Bradley's retelling of the Arthurian legends, The Mists of Avalon, she creates two dystopic cultures: Avalon and Camelot. Contrasting Bradley's account of the legends with the traditional version, Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur, reveals that Bradley's sweeping revisions of the tradition do little to create a feminist ideal. A skeptical questioning of the text's plot and characters with the Women's Movement in mind opens an interpretation of the text as a critique of feminism itself.
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Boisclair, Isabelle. "Ouvrir la voie/x, le processus constitutif d'un sous-champ littéraire féministe au Québec, 1960-1990." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1998. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk1/tape11/PQDD_0020/NQ46684.pdf.
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Floerke, Jennifer Jodelle. "A queer look at feminist science fiction: Examing Sally Miller Gearhart's The Kanshou." CSUSB ScholarWorks, 2005. https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd-project/2889.
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This thesis is a queer theory analysis of the feminist science fiction novel The Kanshou by Sally Miller Gearhart. After exploring both male and female authored science fiction in the literature review, two themes were to be dominant. The goal of this thesis is to answer the questions, can the traditional themes that are prevalent in male authored science fiction and feminist science fiction in representing gender and sexual orientation dichotomies be found in The Kanshou? And does Gearhart challenge these dichotomies by destabilizing them? The analysis found determined that Gearhart's The Kanshou does challenge traditional sociological norms of binary gender identities and sexual orientation the majority of the time.
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邵毅. "重寫與節約 : 從女性主義角度論《傲慢與偏見》的中譯本 = Rewriting and constraints : a study of the Chinese translations of Pride and prejudice from a feminist perspective." HKBU Institutional Repository, 2007. http://repository.hkbu.edu.hk/etd_ra/855.
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Lunt, Lora G. "Mosaique et memoire : paradigmes identitaires dans le roman feminin tunisien." Thesis, McGill University, 2000. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=37768.
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Mosaique et memoire studies paradigms that contribute to the construction of identity in the writings of thirteen Tunisian women novelists writing in French: Emna Bel Haj Yahia, Aicha Chaibi, Annie Fitoussi, Behija Gaaloul, Annie Goldmann, Souad Guellouz, Jelila Hafsia, Souad Hedri, Turkia Labidi Ben Yahia, Alia Mabrouk, Nine Moati, Katia Rubenstein, and Fawzia Zouari. Drawing upon post-colonial and feminist perspectives, this thesis analyzes texts through their poetics and in linguistic, cultural and literary contexts. Novels by women offer an inside view of women's evolution through a variety of characters representing three generations, just as they explore alternate ways of entering modernity based upon harmonizing traditional values (cultural roots, family, faith, community solidarity, a Mediterranean warmth of spirit, thinking "in Arabesques") with 'modern' values such as sexual equality and individual freedom.Multiple women's voices protest patriarchal and colonial or racist discourse, but also reveal spaces of happiness in women's lives. Jewish voices at times reinforce views by Muslim authors but at others present opposing viewpoints, deconstructing concepts such as 'Arab identity' and questioning nationalist claims to Islamic tolerance and multiculturalism.
In these French-language novels, images and metaphors, as well as expressions in dialectical Arabic, recall the rich cultural heritage underlying national consciousness, the memory and the mosaic which form both individual and national identities. The juxtaposition of Arabic and French suggests both the cross-fertilization of cultures and the impossibility of naming the inexpressible, just as it contributes to deconstructing identity through the medium of the novel.
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Little, Julianna. "“Frailty, thy name is woman”: Depictions of Female Madness." VCU Scholars Compass, 2015. http://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/etd/3709.
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Concepts of mental health and normality cannot be understood apart from cultural norms and values. The most significant of cultural constructions that shape our view of madness is gender. Madness has been perceived for centuries metaphorically and symbolically as a feminine illness and continues to be gendered into the twenty-first century. Works of art and literature and psychiatric medicine influence each other as well as our understanding and perception of mental illness. Throughout history, images of mental illness in women send the message that women are weak, dangerous, and require containment. What are the cultural links between femininity and insanity, and how are they represented? Through the lenses of disciplines such as theatre criticism, feminist theory, and psychiatry, this thesis examines the history of madness as a gendered concept and its depictions in art and literature. Additionally, it will explore the representation of female madness in contemporary dramatic literature as compared to the medical model used during the era in which it was written as well as the social and cultural conditions and expectations of the period. The three plays under consideration are: Long Day’s Journey Into Night, written in 1941 by Eugene O’Neill; Fefu and Her Friends, written in 1977 by Maria Irene Fornés; and
Next to Normal, produced on Broadway in its current form in 2009 and written and scored by Brian Yorkey and Tom Kitts. None of these plays tell a tidy story with a straightforward ending. In none do treatment facilities offer refuge or health professionals offer answers. Struggling characters resort to drug abuse, fall prey to internalization, or leave treatment all together, having been subjected to enough victimization. The relationship between patient and physician is depicted to be, at best, ambivalent. The themes in these plays illuminate women’s mental illness as an extensive problem with many contributing factors, and the origins of which are quite complex.
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Dredge, Sarah. "Accommodating feminism : Victorian fiction and the nineteenth-century women's movement." Thesis, McGill University, 2000. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=36917.
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The research field of this thesis is framed by the major political and legal women's movement campaigns from the 1840s to the 1870s: the debates over the Married Women's Property Act; over philanthropy and methods of addressing social ills; the campaign for professional opportunities for women, and the arguments surrounding women's suffrage. I address how these issues are considered and contextualised in major works of Victorian fiction: Anne Bronte's The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (1848), Elizabeth Gaskell's North and South (1855), Charlotte Bronte's Villette (1853), and George Eliot's Middlemarch (1871--2).In works of fiction by women, concepts of social justice were not constrained by layers of legal abstraction and the obligatory political vocabulary of "disinterest." Contemporary fiction by women could thus offer some of the most developed articulations of women's changing expectations. This thesis demonstrates that the Victorian novel provides a distinct synthesis of, and contribution to, arguments grouped under the rubric of the "woman question." The novel offers a perspective on feminist politics in which conflicting social interests and demands can be played out, where ethical questions meet everyday life, and human relations have philosophical weight. Given women's traditional exclusion from the domain of legitimate (authoritative) speech, the novels of Gaskell, the Bronte's, and Eliot, traditionally admired for their portrayal of moral character, play a special role in giving voice to the key political issues of women's rights, entitlements, and interests. Evidence for the political content and efficacy of these novels is drawn from archival sources which have been little used in literary studies (including unpublished materials), as well as contemporary periodicals. Central among these is the English Woman's Journal. Conceived as the mouthpiece of the early women's movement, the journal offers a valuable record of the feminist activity of the period. Though it has not been widely exploited, particularly in literary studies, detailed study of the journal reveals close parallels between the ideological commitments and concerns of the women's movement and novels by mid-Victorian women.
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Tanner, Jane Hinkle. "Sharing the Light: Feminine Power in Tudor and Stuart Comedy." Thesis, University of North Texas, 1994. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc278551/.
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Studies of the English Renaissance reveal a patriarchal structure that informed its politics and its literature; and the drama especially demonstrates a patriarchal response to what society perceived to be the problem of women's efforts to grow beyond the traditional medieval view of "good" women as chaste, silent, and obedient. Thirteen comedies, whose creation spans roughly the same time frame as the pamphlet wars of the so-called "woman controversy," from the mid-sixteenth to the mid-seventeenth centuries, feature women who have no public power, but who find opportunities for varying degrees of power in the private or domestic setting.
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Boettcher, Anna Margarete. "Through Women's Eyes: Contemporary Women's Fiction about the Old West." PDXScholar, 1995. https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds/4966.
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The myth of the West is still very much alive in contemporary America. Lately, there has been a resurgence of new Western movies, TV series, and fiction. Until recently the West has been the exclusive domain of the quintessential masculine man. Women characters have featured only in the margins of the Western hero's tale. Contemporary Western fiction by women, however, offers new perspectives. Women's writing about the Old and New West introduces strong female protagonists and gives voice to characters that are muted or ignored by traditional Western literature and history. Western scholarship has largely been polarized by two approaches. First, the myth and symbol school of Turner, Smith, and followers celebrated American exceptionalism and rugged male individualism on the Western frontier. Second, the reaction against these theories draws attention to the West's legacy of racism, sexism and violence. The purpose of the present study is to collapse these theoretical fences and open a dialogue between conflicting theoretical positions and contemporay Western fiction. Molly Gloss's 1989 The Jump-Off Creek and Karen Joy Fowler's 1991 Sarah Canary selfcritically re-write the Old West. This study has attempted to explore the following questions: How can one re-write history in the context of a postmodern culture? How can "woman," the quintessential "Other" escape a modernist history (and thus avoid charges of essentialism) when she has not been in this history to begin with? In this study I analyze how these two contemporary feminist authors, Molly Gloss, and Karen Joy Fowler, face the dual challenge of writing themselves into a history that has traditionally excluded them, while at the same time deconstructing this very historical concept of the West. Fowler's and Gloss's use of diverse narrative strategies to upset a monolithic concept of history-- emphasizing the importance of multiple stories of the Old West-- is discussed in detail.
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Chan, Pui Nam. "Empowerment and vampire literature: an examination of female vampire characters as a cultural response to oppression." HKBU Institutional Repository, 2017. https://repository.hkbu.edu.hk/etd_oa/475.
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Vampire and Vampirism have raised the interests of the public from 1700s. Vampire is being used as a lens to discuss social issues in the real world. However, it is seen that there are limited works discussing the situation of coloured communities. This project is to examine female vampire figures in select works and evaluate the extent to which those figures are able to represent an empowered image of women of colour. To achieve this aim, textual analysis will be used to examine classical vampire literature, such as Sheridan Le Fanu's "Carmilla" (1872/2003), Mary E. Wilkins Freeman's "Luella Miller" (1902/2014), Bram Stoker's Dracula (2007), Anne O'Brien Rice's Interview with the Vampire (1976/2010) and L. A. Banks's Minion (2003). There will be interdisciplinary reading of the social situation and behavior of the colored alongside with textual analysis of Jewelle Gomez's The Gilda Stories: A Novel (1991) and Octavia E. Butler's Fledgling: A Novel (2005). I will conclude that vampire literature has the ability and potentiality to reflect social behavior and environment of the coloured, especially coloured women. The contribution of this thesis is to demonstrate that reflecting the situation of the coloured can be a new area for vampire literature to explore in the future development and evolution of vampire literature as a genre. This is also breakthrough to the function of vampire literature as a genre because on top of appearing as entertainment and reflection of society, vampire literature is able to serve social function to empower and enlighten readers by raising their awareness to social issues that people are used to neglect.
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Najar, Daronkolae Esmaeil. "Pam Gems: Rethinking Her Life and the Impact of Her Plays on British Stage." The Ohio State University, 2018. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1523487108676837.
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Weeda-Zuidersma, Jeannette. "Keeping mum : representations of motherhood in contemporary Australian literature - a fictocritical exploration." University of Western Australia. School of Social and Cultural Studies, 2007. http://theses.library.uwa.edu.au/adt-WU2007.0054.
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[Truncated abstract] This thesis argues that the non-representation and under-representation of mothering in contemporary Australian literature reflects a much wider cultural practice of silencing the mother-as-subject position and female experiences as a whole. The thesis encourages women writers to pay more attention to the subjective experiences of mothering, so that women’s writing, in particular writing on those aspects of women’s lives that are silenced, of which motherhood is one, can begin to refigure motherhood discourses. This thesis examines mother-as-subject from three perspectives: mothering as a corporeal experience, mothering as a psychological experience, and the articulations and silences of mothering-as-subject. It engages with feminist, postmodern and fictocritical theories in its discussion of motherhood as a discourse through these perspectives. In particular, the thesis employs the theoretical works of postmodern feminists Hélène Cixous, Luce Irigaray and Julia Kristeva in this discussion . . . A fictional narrative also runs through the critical discussion on motherhood. This narrative, Catherine’s Story, gives a personal and immediate voice to the mother-as-subject perspective. In keeping with the nature of fictocriticism, strict textual boundaries between criticism and fiction are blurred. The two modes of writing interact and in the process inform and critique each other.
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Mackenzie, Leonore. "Feministiese vertelstrategieë in 'n metafiksionele teks van Jeanne Goosen." Thesis, Rhodes University, 1991. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002100.
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Die roman Ons is nie almal so nie (1990) deur Jeanne Goosen word aangebied in 'n realistiese (oftewel tradisionele) vertelvorm. Feministiese vakkundigheid verwys na die narratiewe tipe as patriargaal of fallosentries. As sodanig, is daar 'n ingrypende verskil tussen die vertelwyse van hierdie teks en die van die outeur se vroeere tekste. Hierdie verskuiwing dien as stimulus vir 'n evaluasie van bogenoemde teks binne 'n raamwerk van die feministiese literere teorie en kritiek. Genoemde verskuiwing beteken ook 'n behoefte na 'n ondersoek van die feministiese literatuur en vakkunde in verhouding tot die heersende manlike "stem" van tradisionele redevoering. Dit word beklemtoon dat elkeen van die feministiese teoretiese standpunte die onvoorwaardelike politieke doelstellings van alle feministiese tekste aan die lig bring. Daar word onder andere te kenne gegee dat patriargale mag nie net op persoonlike vlak voorkom nie, maar ook op die vlak van instellings en sosiale gebruike. Patriargale beheer is dus nie 'n onveranderliknatuurlike gegewe nie; dit is vatbaar vir teoretiese analise en praktiese wysiging. Vanwee die feministiese literere teoriee se preokkupasie met patriargale mag, word hierdie teoriee dikwels gekritiseer as synde onbetrokke by strydvrae ten opsigte van rassisme en klasseverdeling. Dit word erken dat die feministiese literere kritiek die geskil met betrekking tot seksisme moet transendeer; dat die toekoms van die feministiese literere teoriee gelee is in 'n deurdringende gesprekvoering met materialisme. Dit is die uitdruklike doelstelling van die marxisties-feministiese kritiese standpunt om rekening te hou, nie net met vraagpunte ten opsigte van taal en "gender" nie, maar ook van klas en ras. Goosen se teks is besonder ontvanklik vir 'n ondersoek van hierdie verwante probleme. * * * The novel Ons is nie almal so nie (1990) by Jeanne Goosen is presented in a realistic (or traditional) narrative form. In feminist terms this narrative form is referred to as patriarchal or phallocentric. As such, the text differs radically from the narrative mode in which the author's previous texts are presented. This shift invites an assessment of the text within a framework of feminist theory and criticism. Moreover, it indicates the need for an investigation into the relationship of feminist literature and scholarship to the dominant male voice of traditional discourse. It is stressed that each of the feminist theoretical positions reveals the unreservedly political purpose of all feminist writing. It is further suggested that patriarchal power exists in institutions and social practices, not merely in individual intentions. Patriarchal power is therefore not a part of immutable nature, but open to effective theoretical analyses and practical change. Due to their preoccupation with patriarchal power, feminist literary theories are often criticised as being blind to issues of race and/or class. It is recognised that feminist literary theory must transcend the issue of sexism; that its future lies in a far more articulated dialogue with materialism. The express purpose of the marxist-feminist critical position is to take into account questions not only of language and gender, but also of class and race. Goosen's text is particularly receptive to an exploration of these interrelated problems.
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Balic, Iva. "Always Painting the Future: Utopian Desire and the Women's Movement in Selected Works by United States Female Writers at the Turn of the Twentieth Century." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2009. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc11060/.
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This study explores six utopias by female authors written at the turn of the twentieth century: Mary Bradley Lane's Mizora (1881), Alice Ilgenfritz Jones and Ella Merchant's Unveiling Parallel (1893), Eloise O. Richberg's Reinstern (1900), Lena J. Fry's Other Worlds (1905), Charlotte Perkins Gilman's Herland (1915), and Martha Bensley Bruère's Mildred Carver, USA (1919). While the right to vote had become the central, most important point of the movement, women were concerned with many other issues affecting their lives. Positioned within the context of the late nineteenth century women's rights movement, this study examines these "sideline" concerns of the movement such as home and gender-determined spheres, motherhood, work, marriage, independence, and self-sufficiency and relates them to the transforming character of female identity at the time. The study focuses primarily on analyzing the expression of female historical desire through utopian genre and on explicating the contradictory nature of utopian production.
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Li, Jing Xiang Lisa. "A reading of the multi-layered subalternity in City of Broken Promises." Thesis, University of Macau, 2018. http://umaclib3.umac.mo/record=b3953534.
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Gomez, Clemente Jr. "Manhood in Spain: Feminine Perspectives of Masculinity in the Seventeenth Century." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2016. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc849616/.
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The question of decline in the historiography of seventeenth-century Spain originally included socio-economic analyses that determined the decline of Spain was an economic recession. Eventually, the historiographical debate shifted to include cultural elements of seventeenth-century Spanish society. Gender within the context of decline provides further insight into how the deterioration of the Spanish economy and the deterioration of Spanish political power in Europe affected Spanish self-perception. The prolific Spanish women writers, in addition, featured their points of view on manhood in their works and created a model of masculinity known as virtuous masculinity. They expected Spanish men to perform their masculine duties as protectors and providers both in public and in private. Seventeenth-century decline influenced how women viewed masculinity. Their new model of masculinity was based on ideas that male authors had developed, but went further by emphasizing men treating their wives well.
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Barnhill, Gretchen Huey, and University of Lethbridge Faculty of Arts and Science. "Fallen angels : female wrongdoing in Victorian novels." Thesis, Lethbridge, Alta. : University of Lethbridge, Faculty of Arts and Science, 2005, 2005. http://hdl.handle.net/10133/241.
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In the Victorian novel, gender-based social norms dictated appropriate behaviour. Female wrongdoing was not only judged according to the law, but also according to the idealized conception of womanhood. It was this implicit cultural measure, and how far the woman contravened the feminine norms of society, that defined her criminal act rather than the act itself or the injury her act inflicted. When a woman deviated from the Victorian construction of the ideal woman, she was stigmatized and labelled. The fallen woman was viewed as a moral menance, a contagion. Foreign women who committed crimes were judged for their 'lack of Englishness.' Insanity evolved into not only a medical explanation for bizarre behaviour, but also a legal explanation for criminal behaviour. Finally, the habitual woman criminal and the infanticidal mother were seen as unnatural. Regardless of the crime committed, female criminals were ostracized and removed from 'respectable' English society.vii, 163 leaves ; 29 cm.
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Crous, Matthys Lourens. "Feminisme en lees : Antjie Krog se Lady Anne en Joan Hambidge se Die anatomie van melancholie." Thesis, Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 1990. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/68821.
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Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 1990.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The aim of this investigation was to provide a theoretical overview of the predominant feminist literary movements and their theoretical theses. I concentrated specifically on providing an historical overview of the major theories and by doing so accumulating them into one theoretical model. Concommitantly theories coined by post-structuralist thinkers such as Derrida and deconstruction are also employed in furnishing the reading model with a deconstructivi i-.>"": base. It proved appropriate to analyse postmodernist poetry ~
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Oersen, Sheridene Barbara. "The representation of women in four of Naguib Mahfouz's realist novels: Palace walk, Palace of desire, Sugar street and Midaq alley." Thesis, University of the Western Cape, 2005. http://etd.uwc.ac.za/index.php?module=etd&.
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This thesis involved the various discourses around Egyptian novelist Naguib Mahfouz's representation of women in four of his most well-known novels, which were originally written in Arabic. At the one extreme, he is described as a feminist writer who takes up an aggressive anti-patriarchal stance, delivering a multi-faceted critique on Egyptian society. Mahfouz's personal milieu, as well as the broader social context in which he finds himself, was given careful consideration. It was also considered whether the genre in which the four novels have been written has a significant influence on the manner in which Mahfouz has represented his female characters.
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Hogue, Cynthia Anne. "Figuring woman (out): Feminine subjectivity in the poetry of Emily Dickinson, Marianne Moore, and H.D." Diss., The University of Arizona, 1990. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/185054.
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Historically, women have not been "speaking subjects" but "spoken objects" in Western culture--the ground on which male-dominated constructions have been erected. In literature, women have been conventionally held as the silent and silenced other. Lyric poetry especially has idealized not only the entrenched figures of masculine subject/feminine object, but poetry itself as the site of prophecy, vision, Truth. Most dramatically in lyric poetry then, the issue of women as subjects has been collapsed into Woman as object, that figure who has been the sacrifice necessary for the production of lyric "song" and the consolidation of the unified masculine voice. It has thus been difficult for women poets to take up the position of speaking subject, most particularly because of women's problematic relationship to Woman. Recent feminist theorists have explored female subjectivity, how women put into hegemonic discourse "a possible operation of the feminine." This dissertation analyzes that possibility in poetry as exemplified in the works of Emily Dickinson, Marianne Moore, and H.D. I contend that these paradigmatic American poets constitute speaking subjects in their poetry that both figure Woman conventionally and reconfigure it, i.e. subvert the stability of those representations, thereby disturbing our view. I argue that this double identification produces, in effect, a divided or split subjectivity that is enabling for the female speaker. As an alternative to the traditionally specularized figure of Woman then, such a position opens up distinctly counter-hegemonic spaces in which to constitute the female subject, rendering problematic readerly consumption of the image of Woman as a totality. I explore the attempts to represent women's difference differently--the tenuous accession to, rejection of, or play with the lyric "I" in these poets' works. Dickinson, Moore, and H.D. reconfigure Woman and inscribe female speakers as grammatically and rhetorically, but not necessarily visually, present, thereby frustrating patriarchal economies of mastery and possession.
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Peter, Zola Welcome. "The depiction of female characters by male writers in selected isiXhosa drama works." Thesis, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10948/1482.
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This research expresses female character portrayal in various drama works written by males. Chapter one is a general introduction that gives the key to this study, the motivation that leads to the selection of this topic; a literary review on the portrayal of female characters in literary works written by males; the scope of study, the basic composition of the ensuing chapters and the definitions of terms that are of paramount importance for this research. Various literary theories are used in Chapter two for the analysis of the research texts. These literary theories include womanism, gender and feminism which expose the social effects caused by the negative perception of females in social life and the negative portrayal of female characters in male dramatic writings. Other literary theories include onomastics as a literary theory, which exposes the relationship between the name giver of a person and the power the name gives to its bearer, as well as psychoanalysis as a theory which proved to be unavoidable, since this study analyses the personal behaviour of the individual characters within their literary environment. Chapter three depicts the general victimization of female characters in male drama works and exposes the various effects of the attitudes of male writers towards female characters in terms of gender role. Chapter four shows a general stereotypical portrayal of female characters in male written drama texts. This chapter shows the impact of stereotyping on female characters from drama works that puts them in a vulnerable position, showing that it is risky to become a victim of ill-treatment in their communities and the literary world. Chapter five deals with the psychological literary review of female characters, showing them as being suicidal and murderers who easily take their own lives and those of other people. Chapter six is a general conclusion of the works which includes observer remarks from other literary researchers of the literature.
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Snyman, Vicki. "Unfallen women : negotiations of alternative feminine identities in selected writings by Olive Schreiner." Thesis, Rhodes University, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002257.
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This study constitutes an inquiry into how Olive Schreiner‟s peripheral position as a colonial woman writer enabled her rewriting of feminine identity, specifically her subversion of Victorian feminine stereotypes. I focus particular attention on three novels: The Story of an African Farm (1890), and the posthumously published From Man to Man (1926) and Undine (1929). I employ a feminist literary approach to examine how Schreiner‟s hybrid identity as a British South African enabled her revisioning of femininity. If Schreiner is situated within the context of her time, it can be demonstrated that her negotiations of feminine identity are influenced by her dual intellectual and cultural heritage. On the one hand, she can be situated within a British tradition of women‟s writing – in particular, the New Woman fiction which emerged in the late nineteenth century. On the other hand, she can be situated within a nascent South African literary tradition – and demonstrates prototypically post-colonial concerns. Schreiner‟s writing style develops out of her colonial heritage and her experiences as a woman living in a patriarchal society. The resultant voice subverts the narrative traditions of the metropolitan novel in an attempt to articulate an alternative view of femininity. I examine in detail how Schreiner undermines and subverts Victorian stereotypes, and focus particular attention on the „fallen woman‟ and the „mother-figure‟. She attempts to challenge conventional Victorian conceptions of femininity by erasing the binary between the „angel‟ and the „whore‟ in order to create a New Woman. In Undine and The Story of an African Farm the full realisation of this New Woman is deferred, since both protagonists die, but From Man to Man is more nuanced, particularly in its emphasis on economic empowerment for women. Schreiner also destabilises traditional notions of motherhood, in order to offer glimpses of an alternative maternal role. It is my contention that, in her depiction of mother-figures and (un)fallen women, Schreiner challenges stock Victorian notions of femininity and, in the process, creates a space in which new possibilities for women can be imagined and negotiated.
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Henn, Maryke. "'n Strukturele en verteltegniese ondersoek na die representasie van die vroulike subjek in Marlene van Niekerk se Agaat." Thesis, Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/4248.
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Thesis (MA (Afrikaans and Dutch))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study investigates the representation of the female subject in Marlene van Niekerk’s novel, Agaat (2004). The female subjects, Milla and Agaat, are the focus of this study. Both women are subjected to drastic situations, which not only influence their relationship, but also their respective identities. This turn of events lead up to a power struggle between Milla and Agaat, which eventually gets reversed throughout the course of the narrative. The focus is essentially on the complex structure of the novel, where a prologue and epilogue serve as a framework for the four different story lines, each with its own narrative technique. A number of theoretical approaches will be employed in order to explore the discussion of the female subject. The novel, which is presented throughout by a single narrator, leads the study to concepts such as representation, subjectivity and identity. In an attempt to understand “the other”, the central role of language and mirrors with regard to representation is explored. Van Niekerk’s reinvention and even subversion of the farm novel of the late twentieth century involves ideologies of the Afrikaner such as land and religion, gender, politics and culture. This strategy results in the focus on concepts like subjectivity and identity. Both these processes will be explored in an attempt to gain insight into the characters. Key elements such as displacement, substitution and revenge give momentum to the chain of events in the story and lead up to introspection by both women. It is especially Milla’s terminal illness that induces introspection and preparation, for both Milla and Agaat, towards death. The influence of all these events, Milla and Agaat’s mutual dependence on each other, as well as the way in which they position themselves in the face of death, prompt this study. This study explores the influence of these events on women, the power struggle that developed out of this and the way in which their respective roles are reversed.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie ondersoek die representasie van die vroulike subjek in Marlene van Niekerk se roman Agaat (2004). Daar word gefokus op die twee vroue in die verhaal, Milla en Agaat. Beide vroue word aan ingrypende situasies onderwerp, wat ʼn invloed op hulle verhouding sowel as hulle onderskeie identiteite het. Hierdie gebeure lei tot ʼn magspel tussen Milla en Agaat, wat tydens die verloop van die verhaalgebeure volledig omgekeer word. Die fokus val eerstens op die roman se ingewikkelde vertelstruktuur waarin daar sprake is van ʼn pro- en epiloog as raamwerk waarbinne vier verhaallyne, elk met sy eie verteltegniek, gebruik word. ʼn Verskeidenheid teoretiese uitgangspunte word nagegaan ten einde die representasie van die vroulike subjek te ondersoek. Die roman, wat deurentyd uit die perspektief van een verteller aangebied word, lei die studie na ondersoekterreine soos representasie, subjektiwiteit en identiteit. Die sentrale rol van taal en spieëls ten opsigte van representasie en in die poging om die “ander” te kan verstaan, word nagegaan. Van Niekerk se herskrywing van die plaasroman in die laat twintigste eeu betrek op subtiele wyse die ideologieë van die Afrikaner rondom grond en religie, gender, politiek en kultuur. Dit lei tot die fokus op subjektiwiteit en identiteit. Beide hierdie prosesse word in die studie ondersoek ten einde begrip vir die karakters te probeer vind. Elemente soos verplasing, plaasvervangerskap en vergelding gee stukrag aan die verhaalgebeure en lei tot besinning by albei vroue. Dit is veral Milla se terminale siekte wat aanleiding gee tot bestekopname en voorbereiding op die dood. Die invloed van al dié gebeure en hoe twee vroue wat op mekaar aangewese is, hulleself posisioneer ten opsigte van die dood, gee aanleiding tot hierdie studie. Die studie onderneem om ondersoek in te stel na die invloed van gebeure by beide vroue, die magspel wat hieruit ontwikkel en hoe die rolle stelselmatig omruil in die verhaalgebeure.
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Rine, Abigail. "Words incarnate : contemporary women’s fiction as religious revision." Thesis, University of St Andrews, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/10023/1961.
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This thesis investigates the prevalence of religious themes in the work of several prominent contemporary women writers—Margaret Atwood, Michèle Roberts, Alice Walker and A.L. Kennedy. Relying on Luce Irigaray’s recent theorisations of the religious and its relationship to feminine subjectivity, this research considers the subversive potential of engaging with religious discourse through literature, and contributes to burgeoning criticism of feminist revisionary writing. The novels analysed in this thesis show, often in violent detail, that the way the religious dimension has been conceptualised and articulated enforces negative views of female sexuality, justifies violence against the body, alienates women from autonomous creative expression and paralyses the development of a subjectivity in the feminine. Rather than looking at women’s religious revision primarily as a means of asserting female authority, as previous studies have done, I argue that these writers, in addition to critiquing patriarchal religion, articulate ways of being and knowing that subvert the binary logic that dominates Western religious discourse. Chapter I contextualises this research in Luce Irigaray’s theories and outlines existing work on feminist revisionist literature. The remaining chapters offer close readings of key novels in light of these theories: Chapter II examines Atwood’s interrogation of oppositional logic in religious discourse through her novel The Handmaid’s Tale. Chapter III explores two novels by Roberts that expose the violence inherent in religious discourse and deconstruct the subjection of the (female) body to the (masculine) Word. Chapters IV and V analyse the fiction of Kennedy and Walker respectively, revealing how their novels confront the religious denigration of feminine sexuality and refigure the connection between eroticism and divinity. Evident in each of these fictional accounts is a forceful critique of religious discourse, as well as an attempt to more closely reconcile foundational religious oppositions between divinity and humanity, flesh and spirit, and body and Word.
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Erickson, Stacy M. "Animals-as-Trope in the Selected Fiction of Zora Neale Hurston, Alice Walker, and Toni Morrison." Thesis, University of North Texas, 1999. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc2227/.
Full textAbstract:
In this dissertation, I show how 20th century African-American women writers such as Zora Neale Hurston, Alice Walker, and Toni Morrison utilize animals-as-trope in order to illustrate the writers' humanity and literary vision. In the texts that I have selected, I have found that animals-as-trope functions in two important ways: the first function of animal as trope is a pragmatic one, which serves to express the humanity of African Americans; and the second function of animal tropes in African-American women's fiction is relational and expresses these writers' "ethic of caring" that stems from their folk and womanist world view. Found primarily in slave narratives and in domestic fiction of the 19th and early 20th centuries, pragmatic animal metaphors and/or similes provide direct analogies between the treatment of African-Americans and animals. Here, these writers often engage in rhetoric that challenges pro-slavery apologists, who attempted to disprove the humanity of African-Americans by portraying them as animals fit to be enslaved. Animals, therefore, become the metaphor of both the abolitionist and the slavery apologist for all that is not human. The second function of animals-as-trope in the fiction of African-American women writers goes beyond the pragmatic goal of proving African-Americans's common humanity, even though one could argue that this goal is still present in contemporary African-American fiction. Animals-as-trope also functions to express the African-American woman writer's understanding that 1) all oppressions stem from the same source; 2) that the division between nature/culture is a false onethat a universal connection exists between all living creatures; and 3) that an ethic of caring, or relational epistemology, can be extended to include non-human animals. Twentieth-century African-American writers such as Hurston, Walker, and Morrison participate in what anthropologists term, "neototemism," which is the contemporary view that humankind is part of nature, or a vision that Morrison would most likely attribute to the "folk." This perspective places their celebration of the continuous relations between humans and animals within a spiritual, indeed, tribal, cosmological construction. What makes these particular writers primarily different from their literary mothers, however, is a stronger sense that they are reclaiming the past, both an African and African-American history. What I hope to contribute with this dissertation is a new perspective of African-American women writers' literary tradition via their usage of animals as an expression of their "ethic of caring" and their awareness that all oppression stems from a single source.
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Sojka, Eugenia. "Search procedures, carnivalization in language- and theory-focused texts of four Canadian women writers." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1996. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk3/ftp04/nq25775.pdf.
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Retief, Petronella (Ronel). "Die konstruksie van die vroulike subjek in die oeuvres van enkele Afrikaanse vrouedigters sedert 1970." Thesis, Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch, 2005. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/1282.
Full textAbstract:
Thesis (DLitt (Afrikaans and Dutch))--University of Stellenbosch, 2005.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The construction of the female subject in the poetry of Afrikaans women poets since 1970 is examined with reference to the oeuvres of Sheila Cussons, Ina Rousseau, Wilma Stockenström and Antjie Krog. The work of three French feminists, namely Julia Kristeva, Hélène Cixous and Luce Irigaray, is selected as the theoretical framework, because of, amongst other reasons, their attention to the structuring role which language plays in the construction of subjectivity. In terms of defining the scope more precisely, there is a specific focus on the role of the mother-daughter relationship, as reflected in the work of these three women. This focus examines not only biological mother-daughter relationships, but also the stance which women adopt regarding the “place of the mother”, as well as the way in which the relationship with the mother’s body emerges in the writing of women. The question is posed whether there is indeed a clearly identifiable feminine subject in the oevres of the four Afrikaans women discussed and, if so, whether this feminine subject is potentially capable of destabilising or even subverting the prevailing patriarchal order.