“女性向”小说的壁垒突破——以《默读》为例

“女性向”小说体现了女性独有的创作倾向,表达了女性私人化的情感需求和生命体验,但同时也与其他文学、现实世界形成了壁垒,缺少对严肃命题的思考。Priest的《默读》在其所属的耽美文化本身就颠覆了以往的性别秩序;而选择侦探类型小说,借不同案件讨论社会问题、探讨严肃命题,带有了强烈的现实主义倾向;文中借鉴经典文学素材并继承经典文学的叙事结构方式。这些都体现了《默读》对“女性向”小说的壁垒突破。

佳比·豪普特曼的女性小说三部曲

出生于1957年的德国当代著名女作家佳比·豪普特曼，以擅长表现富有时代特点且喜剧色彩浓郁的“女性小说”而引人注目。她的小说《找个衰男人过日子》(1995)、《死了的丈夫才是好丈夫》(1996)和《床上的谎言》(1997)内容上有机衔接，思想上层层推进，将“女性小说”的性别意识、

The Bitter Butter Knife＂ Puttermesser＇s Problematic Paradise

This paper analyzes how the themes of magical realism and female divinity intersect in the novel The Puttermesser Papers （1997） by Cynthia Ozick. In the ＂Introduction＂, the writer defines magical realism and discusses its connections to Women＇s Studies. The next section, ＂The Bitter Butter Knife＂, discusses the protagonist＇s （Ruth Puttermesser） boring existence and pathetic attempts to connect to her Jewish ancestry. In ＂The Problematic Paradise＂, the author focuses on Puttermesser＇s attempts to take control of her life by creating the first female golem and the ups and downs of paradise. This author argues that the female protagonist of the novel utilizes magical realism as a tool of empowerment over personal oppression.

The Holy Bitch That Can Be a Witch in The Grass Harp

This paper comprises an analysis of the modernist American writer Truman Capote＇s novel The Grass Harp （1951） from a feminist perspective. While the novel treats the ostracizing of four people by the oppressive mindset of a patriarchal society, the female character Dolly Talbo who leads the banished group to live in a tree house becomes the embodiment of a Goddess image introduced by the New Age Spiritualities and Neopaganism. Creating a new culture for women as an alternative to the patriarchal system, in which concepts such as love, herbalism, and magic are sanctioned as sacred, and offering this culture as an opportunity to all human beings, Dolly Talbo can be perceived as a contemporary holy witch who becomes an occult and undermining threat to the patriarchal order.

Archetypes of Both Sexes and Their Relations as Reflected in To the Lighthouse

Virginia Woolf＇s To the Lighthouse has gained wide recognition and is regarded by many scholars as her best work This novel is looked upon as an autobiographical novel of her family, and generally considered to represent Woolf＇s viewpoint on the relationship between two sexes. In addition to the feminist approach, this paper intends to study complex relations between male and female characters mainly from an archetypal perspective. Based on the study of archetypes in both sexes, we find that the main characters come through various psychological changes, so that their relations can be summed up respectively, as cooperative and finally harmonious

The Political Aspect of Misogynies in Late Qing Dynasty Crime Fiction

In most Chinese traditional court-case narrative, women often serve as negative social actors, and may even be the alleged cause of the degeneration of men＇s morality as the result of their seductiveness. In the late Qing Dynasty novel Digong＇an, centred on the upright official Digong, there is strong evidence of misogyny by the author. Two female characters stand out from the story： one kills her husband with the help of her lover, who is partially justified by the latter being under the woman＇s negative influence; and the other is Empress Wu, to whom the moral downfall of the Tang Dynasty is attributed. Both women are subject to insult and threat throughout the novel. The author＇s attitude substantially relies on the sexist rhetoric prevalent in the Confucian idea of an ordered society, which usually took a negative outlook towards women partaking in public life. But for the latter we should also take in account that at the end of the Qing Dynasty a woman was, in reality, ruling the empire ＂from behind the curtain＂. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to deconstruct the author＇s misogyny, in order to shed a light on his criticism and connect it with a somewhat more political discourse.

Against Orthodoxy： Sex, Marriage, and Gender Roles in George Meredith＇s Poems and Novels

George Meredith （1828-1909） is acknowledged as a creator of memorable female characters. Meredith＇s heroines are radically different from the women generally encountered in Victorian fiction. Characteristically, Meredith constructs a type of female character who, in a social context hostile to any break with convention, refuses to conform to the stereotype of the weak, passive, and dependant woman. In accordance with J. S. Mill＇s observations in The Subjection of Women （1869）, Meredith thought that the progress of society could be possible only through female emancipation and admittance of women into public practice. This paper discusses the themes of marital disintegration and ＂conscious adultery＂ that affirm the legitimacy of female pleasure against coercion Thus, the paper will take into consideration the sonnet sequence Modern Love （1862） and one of Meredith＇s most neglected novels, Lord Ormont and His Aminta （1894）, whose heroines are unexpectedly depicted as non-conventional, strong, and proud. A close reading of the texts will reveal the narrative strategies and textual devices through which Meredith exploited a model of womanhood that, by subverting the current ideas on sex, marriage, and gender roles, is able to countermine male ＂egoism＂, the only obstacle to the genuine progress of Victorian society toward real democratization

Rereading A Literature of Their Own： British Women Novelists From Bronte to Lessing

Elaine Showalter＇s A Literature of Their Own： British Women Novelists From Bront~ to Lessing is a pioneering masterpiece in feminism studies. The book impresses the reader with Showalter＇s groundwork to revive the interest in long-forgotten women writers in British literature history. Showalter＇s work is indeed a kind of rediscovery, mapping widely rather than mining deeply the territory of women＇s writing. In a sense, feminist criticism came of age with this book.

Women＇s repression, rebellion and quest for the ＂true self＂： Theyellow wallpaper as the epitome of the female Gothic novel

As a genre that expressed women＇s dark protests, fantasies and the fear, female Gothic was not theorized until the late 1960s, and before its theorization, this convention was adopted by many women writers in their works. Charlotte Perkins Gilman＇s The yellow wallpaper is one of the many examples. As the epitome of female gothic, The yellow wallpaper utilized the female gothic conventions--the grotesque symbol of yellow wallpaper, the hysteric narrative format and the archetype image of madwoman, to express women＇s status of her time--their repression, rebellion and quest for the ＂true self＂.

A Feminist Analysis of Mr. and Mrs. Dove by Katherine Mansfield

Katherine Mansfield （1888-1923）, a New Zealand＇s celebrated short story writer, was famous for her exquisite portrayals of women and she made great contribution to the British short story as well. Greatly influenced by Anton Chekhov, her writing fmnly fixed on the small details of human behavior. She created her best works in the early 1920s, and her book, The Garden Party, arrived at the peak of great achievement. Set in England, her short story, Mr. and Mrs. Dove, described a story about the man＇s last day in England and a series of things that happened to his visit to his beloved woman＇s home which presented the relationships between his mom and him, and his beloved woman and him. This paper mainly explores the feminist thoughts of the female characters. The paper concludes that the awakening awareness of women in this story was obviously from the perspectives of striking against the patriarchal system and Mansfield was actually a feminist pioneer who promoted the development of feminism in the whole world.

Exploration into ＂amatory fiction＂ by early English women writers

The period from 1680 to 1730 witnessed the creation of a wealth of women＇s fiction that has long been ignored or dismissed by historians and literary critics. Although the women writers in question were best sellers at the time, they were still not accepted within the traditional literary categories. This paper intends to doubt the appropriateness of the term ＂amatory＂ as a description of women＇s writing at the time as it is not proper to entitle them as ＂amatory＂ fiction only for the reason that they adopt similar amatory plot and write fictions about love.

The Nature of Self-Damaging Women in Charles Dickens＇ Novel Bleak House

This study intends to explore and analysis the portrayal of self-damaging behavior, which encapsulates two female characters： Lady Dedlock and Mademoiselle Hortense in one of the most famous novels of Charles Dickens＇ Bleak House （1984）. An evaluation of these two female characters shows and reflects that their self-damaging behavior emerges from low self esteem, which results from a number of reasons. The self-damaging behavior introduced by these women involves： self-imposed isolation, women madness, purposive accidents, physical self-abuse, and most consequently, conscious pursuit of destructive relationships with men. Although Dickens clearly means no maliciousness to women in his works, the great Victorian marital upheaval of June, 1858, is illustrative of Dickens＇s ambivalent attitude towards women, especially towards strong women

Debt in the Quebecois Novels of the 1960-1980

This article will study the Quebecois novels of the 1960-1980＇s and especially the feeling of debt that women had because of the Christian Bible that condemned women as being the sinful Eve responsable for the Fall of Humanity. These novelists from Quebec, Marie-Claire Blais, Anne Hebert, and Gabrielle Roy, show that their female characters are unable to let go of this myth of the incarnation in their bodies of the temptations leading to Sin. Consequently, these heroines show a violent disgust for their bodies, and for all sexual manifestations （puberty, pregnancey, child-birth） that they describe very crudely. They reject their bodies and live in shame of their bodies. For this reason, they dress with modesty and have a neurotic fear of the Sin of the Flesh. This Sin makes them want to withdraw from the image of the temptress Eve and to identify themselves to Mary, the sublimated woman. For Quebec novelist Gabrielle Roy, the female debt cannot be repaid by a sublimation of women to Mary, but by a sublimation of women＇s own talents. Gabrielle Roy sees her late birth as a debt contracted towards her very impoverished and old parents. Fortunately, in her adolescence, she rebels against this unfair contract that her family and especially her mother imposes on her and that wrongs her because it forces her to follow the career path of a school teacher to repay the debts of her family. She withdraws from this debt by leaving for France and following the career path of a writer. She will redeem the debt of her family by writing her autobiography which is a monument in sublimation of her mother

Same Plight, Different Struggle： A Comparison of Female Protagonists in Hamlet and ＂The Yellow Wallpaper＂

Approaching from the perspective of feminist criticism, this paper compares the female protagonists in Shakespeare＇s well-known tragedy Hamlet and Gilman＇s short story ＂The Yellow Wallpaper＂. While the first person narrator in ＂The Yellow Wallpaper＂ is a modem signifier of the archetypal Ophelia as the sacrificial lamb of the patriarchal oppression, the two differ in their manifestations of madness, which could be accounted for by their respective historical and social environment with women＇s awakening consciousness of self-identity

Religion and Feminism in the Short Story of Alifa Rifaat-- The Voice of the ＂Voiceless＂

This paper is an attempt to bring to the foreground a better understanding and appreciation of the work and impact of an Arab Muslim woman writer whose work, characters, thoughts, settings, and words sink very sensitively into the depth of being of her oriental women characters. They are very local and they reflect a typical oriental and distinct religious sentiment, along with an underlying predicament or suffering because of some lack in their love life, both emotional and sexual. This paper will attempt to analyze how the short story written by Alifa Rifaat （1987） deal with the thorny issues Of religiosity and sexuality that might appear as two opposing poles, yet they mix and blend within same characters exposing different aspects of the human being living within dilemmas of personal needs and social dictates of tradition, taboo, and culture. For a non Arab reader, this should be an interesting and informative cross-cultural issue.

＂My Name Is Sorrow＂： The Literary-Fantastic Manifestations of Grief and Grieving in Toni Morrison＇s Fiction

It may be argued that one of the recurring themes in the fiction of Toni Morrison is the problem of emotional suffering. Indeed, a line of her characters endure a series of traumatic past experiences, the consequences of which are strongly echoed in their present lives and often foreshadow their future. Thus, this article discusses some of the characteristic literary-fantastic manifestations of grief and grieving in Morrison＇s novels, seen as internal and external expressions of the protagonists＇ mental pain. First, the text outlines the major grief-generating conditions for Morrison＇s heroes in general, and then it focuses on the various modes in which their feelings of grief and grieving are communicated. Second, the study exposes the characters＇ psychological strife and the influence it exerts both on themselves and their surroundings. Third and last, the paper concludes with an attempt to establish some typical patterns of grief and grieving common to Morrison＇s fictional figures. In order to reflect a variety of grief-stricken individuals populating Morrison＇s world, the analysis examines a group of three female characters. Taken all together, the selected examples serve to exhibit the complexity of the problem in question, as well as to illustrate the different shades of human sorrow.

What Makes a Mother a Monster？ Mrs. Gant＇s Grotesque Masculinity and the Cult of Womanhood

This paper1 reevaluates the portrayal of Mrs. Gant in William Faulkner＇s short story ＂Miss Zilphia Gant＂ （1932）. It argues that Faulkner represents her as ＂the mother as a monster＂ and looks at the features of that representation. More specifically, the paper devotes attention to this abusive mother＇s curious masculinity, employing feminist readings from two angles. That is, on the one hand, the paper reexamines the nature of Mrs. Gant＇s unfemininity by considering the immense responsibility of child-rearing that mothers bear in modern societies. On the other hand, it attempts to locate the origin of her bodily manliness by considering the prism of images of women as evil and destabilizing that pervaded Western culture early in the twentieth century. Such approaches have revealed that making a monster of a mother requires a conspiracy taking advantage of both the inconsistencies inherent in the ideals of motherhood and the bizarre processes through which femininity itself is masculinized. In conclusion, this paper argues that Mrs. Gant＇s monstrosity is a reflection of a predicament which many women in modern times whether Faulkner＇s or our own share, that is, being expected to be a perfect mother while still being viciously castigated as sexually threatening.

Contesting Veterans＇ Identities＂ Reflections Upon Gender Roles and History in Pat Barker＇s Regeneration

This paper aims to reflect upon the approximations between literature and history in Pat Barker＇s novel Regeneration （1991）. The novel fictionalizes the conversations held by three war veterans who wrote and fought in the First World War （Wilfred Owen, Siegfried Sassoon, and Robert Graves） during their stay at Craiglockart＇s Hospital--a war hospital for the treatment of shell-shocked officers, in Scotland. The paper addresses more emphatically how traditional male and female roles are renegotiated in Barker＇s metafiction. Finally, it provides some considerations on British women war writing of the First World War, a tradition in which Regeneration is rooted and emerges as a remarkable contemporary example.

Striving for women＇s independence and equal status： A brief talk on the image of Jane Eyre

Jane Eyre tries to preserve her self-respect, independence self-sufficiency and rebellious spirit at every stage of her life, both in struggling with social pressure and in resisting the temptation of passion.

The Destroyed or the Destroyer？ The Characterization of Mrs. Morel in Sons and Lovers

This paper looks into David Herbert Lawrence＇s characterization of Mrs. Morel in his famous novel Sons and Lovers （1962）. Mrs. Morel has long been regarded by feminist critics as the destroyed, a victim destroyed by the male-dominated society, and her son Paul has been viewed as a destroyer of women. Based on a close reading of the novel, this paper examines Lawrence＇s characterization of Mrs. Morel and reveals that Mrs Morel actually belongs to the destroyer instead of the destroyed through an analysis of her relationship with the three male characters in the novel, thus providing new insights into the understanding of this classic novel.