rarae fidei atque singularis pudicitiae femina—The Figure of Plotina in Apuleius' Novel (Metamorphoses 7.6-7)

Mnemosyne ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 61 (4) ◽  
pp. 619-633 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Female Characters ◽  
Active Involvement ◽  
Historical Model

AbstractThe character of Plotina is introduced to the reader in book 7 of Apuleius' novel in a tale told by Tlepolemus (in the disguise of the bandit Haemus) to the band of robbers in order to rescue his kidnapped fiancée Charite. Compared to most of the other female characters in the Metamorphoses this Plotina is quite unique in her chastity and marital devotion, but she also displays manly qualities. In this paper it is argued that Apuleius has chosen the name Plotina for his character on purpose, mirroring the historical model of the wife of the emperor Trajan, Pompeia Plotina, who likewise was a woman of virtue, but whose active involvement in Hadrian's adoption remains an ambiguous trait. In the second part of the paper it is demonstrated how Plotina as an ideal wife also reveals a possible key to Lucius' salvation.

Keeping Company with Sondheim’s Women

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stacy Wolf
Keyword(s):  
Musical Theater ◽  
Married Couples ◽  
Feminist Perspective ◽  
The Self ◽  
The Other ◽  
Female Characters ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The One

This chapter examines the eight female characters inCompany, what they do in the musical, and how they function in the show’s dramaturgy, and argues that they elicit the quintessential challenge of analyzing musical theater from a feminist perspective. On the one hand, the women tend to be stereotypically, even msogynistically portrayed. On the other hand, each character offers the actor a tremendous performance opportunity in portraying a complicated psychology, primarily communicated through richly expressive music and sophisticated lyrics. In this groundbreaking 1970 ensemble musical about a bachelor’s encounters with five married couples and three girlfriends, Sondheim’s female characters occupy a striking range of types within one show. From the bitter, acerbic, thrice-married Joanne to the reluctant bride-to-be Amy, and from the self-described “dumb” “stewardess” April to the free-spirited Marta,Company’s eight women are distillations of femininity, precisely sketched in the short, singular scenes in which they appear.

scholarly journals Shame and Alcoholism in Paula Hawkins’s The Girl on the Train

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maysaa H. Jaber
Keyword(s):  
Violence Against Women ◽  
Alcohol Addiction ◽  
The Other ◽  
Female Characters ◽  
The One

The aim of this article is to showcase the connection between the portrayal of shame and alcohol addiction, on the one hand, and the mystery of murder and violence against women, on the other, in Paula Hawkins’s thriller The Girl on the Train (2015). This article argues that Hawkins’s book uses the thriller formula to reveal the links between gender and violence by delving into the vulnerability, suffering and resilience of the female characters through the stories of alcoholic troubled protagonist, Rachael Watson and the mystery of Megan Hipwell’s murder.

scholarly journals FEMALE VOICES IN NEPALI NOVELS

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (12) ◽  
pp. 216-223
Author(s):  
Ashok Thapa ◽  
Sushil Rajbhandari
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
The Political ◽  
Female Characters ◽  
Democratic Socialism ◽  
Psychological Issues ◽  
Societal Norms ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Communist Ideology ◽  
Norms And Values ◽  
Political Spectrum

The female characters created by BP Koirala and Pradip Nepal in Narendra Dai and Swapnil Shahar respectively have been compared and contrasted in this paper. Although Koirala and Nepal represent two poles of the Nepalese political spectrum, with Koirala pursuing democratic socialism doctrine and Nepal following communist ideology, the characters they create in their novels do not completely reflect the political schooling of their creators. The female characters in both the novels share some common traits of characters which most of the women in the Nepalese society, even today, exude, such as compassion, sacrifice, and docility. However, these female characters also display enough courage to rebel against the prevalent patriarchal dominance. The plot of Nepal’s novel is considerably politically colored, and thus the female characters in his novel discuss progressive ideas and even act accordingly. Koirala’s novel on the other hand deals more with socio-psychological issues and these conditions the dispositions of his characters. Nevertheless, his female characters too display rebellious traits and speak back to the patriarchal hegemony both through words and actions. As compared to Nepal, however, Koirala seems to have better succeeded in creating well-rounded female characters that not only abide by the then societal norms and values but also display mutiny against unjust treatment.

Welfare locale e decentramento amministrativo a Napoli: la ricerca come specchio del mutamento sociale

2009 ◽  
pp. 139-156
Author(s):  
Fabio Corbisiero ◽  
Elisabetta Perone
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Third Sector ◽  
School Dropout ◽  
The Other ◽  
Original Research ◽  
Social Policies ◽  
Active Involvement ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Social ◽  
The City

- The article summarizes the results of a research conducted on the social policies change in Naples, particularly in Scampěa and in North Area of the city. This change saws the active involvement of the third sector organizations in the process of implementation of policies. The survey pays special attention to the process of welfare networking developed in the Area, although this involved a deep reconsideration, on the part of researchers, about the risks of contamination of the research as subject get closer. The involvement of an Association, among those most active in the area, while allowed more direct understanding of decision making, on the other hand became a strong pressure. Mediation among the scientific aims and those expressed by the Association led to a deviation of the original research design.Key words: social policies, suburbs, poverty, school dropout, voluntary, welfare

Deconstructing the Other’s Other: Analyzing the Chinese Female Image in the Film Saving Face

Film Matters ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 93-100
Author(s):  
Chuyi Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Chinese Women ◽  
Postcolonial Studies ◽  
The Other ◽  
American Film ◽  
Female Characters ◽  
Global Order ◽  
The Past ◽  
Female Image ◽  
Saving Face ◽  
International Status

The image of Chinese women portrayed in American films is essentially the West’s imagination of China, conveyed by the female body and constructed in the Orientalist discourse. Over the past one hundred years, Chinese women have been primarily depicted as docile, weak, submissive, voiceless, and in need of being rescued and guided by Occidentals. With the evolution of the global order and the rise of China’s international status, the silent Orient has taken the initiative to resist and reshape this voiceless, “other-ed” image. This article aims to focus on the female characters in Saving Face, an American film directed by Chinese American director Alice Wu in 2004, and analyzes how the director reverses the stereotyped Chinese female image based on the theoretical framework of Orientalism and postcolonial studies, not only “the other” with regards to men, but also “the other” as to the Occident, thus dismantling long-held misreadings of China.

scholarly journals Outobiografie as hermeneutiek van die self: Van Rousseau tot Le Clézio

Literator ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisabeth Snyman
Keyword(s):  
18Th Century ◽  
The Self ◽  
The Other ◽  
Ken Bugul ◽  
Marguerite Yourcenar ◽  
Autobiographical Texts ◽  
Intercultural Encounters ◽  
Individual Existence ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Historical Model

Autobiography as hermeneutics of the self, from Rousseau to Le Clézio. This article investigates the hypothesis that autobiography can be regarded as a type of hermeneutics of the self. In order to achieve this, a selection of French autobiographical texts was analysed. As this study is a reworked version of an inaugural lecture, it presents an overview rather than a detailed analysis of the theories or the texts it refers to. Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s Confessions, generally regarded as a cornerstone of modern autobiography, was used as a point of departure for the interpretation of operations of understanding at work in autobiographical texts. The article demonstrates how the writers of the rest of the corpus of texts question Rousseau’s historical model in different ways according to more recent concepts of the self. Thus it is argued that George Perec replaces the historical model of understanding with an approach based on deciphering signs from the past; that Nathalie Sarraute combines the New Novel’s concept of the divided subject with that of tropismes in order to give a truthful representation of her childhood; and that Roland Barthes problematises the notion of language as a medium of expression of subjectivity in his ‘anti-outobiography’. This study furthermore demonstrates how Marguerite Yourcenar breaks with the anthropomorphism associated with humanism to pave the way for the realisation that the presence of the Other profoundly determines the understanding of the self. Finally, the ethics of dealing with the Other in intercultural encounters, as recorded in Ken Bugul and Jean-Marie Le Clézio’s autobiographies, is examined. The article shows how, from the 18th century onwards, literary and philosophical trends influenced the act of understanding and interpreting the individual existence and hence the nature of autobiography.

scholarly journals Kako bih mogla da budem dobra ili o ženskom pismu Jagode Truhelke

2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 51
Author(s):  
Katarina Ivon ◽  
Josipa Blažinović
Keyword(s):  
Special Reference ◽  
Gender Stereotypes ◽  
World View ◽  
Literary Text ◽  
Political Context ◽  
The Other ◽  
Traditional Society ◽  
Female Characters ◽  
Education Of Women ◽  
And Gender

The work examines the concept of a woman's letter of Jagoda Tuhelka with special reference to the novels: Plain air and Vojača and the educational epistle U carstvu duše (In the empire of the soul). With respect to the socio-political context of the end of the 19th and 20th centuries, efforts have been made to analyse the idea of the author's female emancipation and how to interpolate it in literary text. Its female poetics is directed to the education of women in traditional society as the basis of female emancipation while the author remains within the framework of the traditional world view supporting the male-female dichotomy and the wife and mother role meant for women. In line with this, the author conceives her female characters as active factors of their own destiny (Plain air), assigning them the function of putting forward their own ideas and developing the polemical discourse with patriarchy, while, on the other hand, her female characters become “innocent” victims of social circumstances and gender stereotypes (Vojača).

scholarly journals The Hysteric Belongs to Me: Helen Oyeyemi’s The Opposite House

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
pp. 45-63
Author(s):  
Noémi Albert
Keyword(s):  
The Self ◽  
The Other ◽  
Female Characters ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Feminine ◽  
Long Time

The term hysteria has undergone several substantial changes throughout its history. A charged concept, deemed for a long time as pejorative and offensive to womanhood, it has lately been re-appropriated for literature under the concept of the “hysterical narrative.” This new trend purports to redeem hysteria and, together with it, redeem the feminine and show all its complexity. Helen Oyeyemi’s 2007 novel, The Opposite House, conflates the private and the public in two female characters, one human, the other divine. Through this double perspective the work self-reflexively re-evaluates hysteria both in the self and in the community.

scholarly journals Màgia i fantasia al servei de les nobles nissagues: el cas de Nofra-dona Dolcina en la novel·la històrica de Vicent Josep Escartí

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
pp. 316
Author(s):  
Maria Àngels Herrero Herrero
Keyword(s):  
Historical Fiction ◽  
The Other ◽  
Direct Link ◽  
Female Characters ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Fantasy Play ◽  
The Fantastic ◽  
Secondary Characters ◽  
The One

Resum: Dos dels elements més identificables en la novel·la històrica de Vicent Josep Escartí són, per una banda, el component màgic i fantàstic i, per una altra, l’existència de dues nobles nissagues: els Roger i els Arcàngel de Sant Esteve. De fet, la primera ja s’apuntà subtilment en «El fill de Gepa» i es desenvolupà en «Epistolari del Comte de l’Hortxà», primer i segon relat de Barroca mort (1988). Posteriorment, s’estengué a Dies d’ira (1992) ?Days of Wrath (2013)?, Els cabells d’Absalom (1996), Nomdedéu (2002), Naumàquia (2004) i El mas de les ànimes (2019). Amb Espècies perdudes (1997) sorgí el segon llinatge, que continuà en L’abellerol mort (2009), en les quals els Roger també s’endinsen enginyosament. Però, si hi ha un enllaç directe entre ambdues nissagues i que, alhora, encarna el joc fantàstic amb què Escartí impregna la seua obra, són els personatges ?secundaris? de Nofra-dona Dolcina. L’objectiu de l’article serà fer un recorregut per la seua novel·lística gràcies a aquests personatges femenins, els quals serviran per constatar-hi la importància de la màgia i la fantasia. Amb el protagonisme d’una dona en la seua darrera novel·la, El mas de les ànimes, ho torna a posar de manifest.  Paraules clau: novel·la històrica valenciana, Escartí, nissagues, personatges femenins, màgia, fantasia.Abstract: Two of the most easily identifiable elements in Vicent Josep Escartí’s historical fiction are, on the one hand, the magical and fantastic component and, on the other hand, the existence of two noble lineages: the Roger family, and the Arcàngel de Sant Esteve family. In fact, the first one subtly appeared already in «El fill de Gepa» and developed in «Epistolari del Comte de l’Hortxà» ?the first and second story within Barroca mort (1988). It subsequently spread to Dies d’ira (1992) ?Days of Wrath (2013)?, Els cabells d’Absalom (1996), Nomdedéu (2002), Naumàquia (2004) and El mas de les ànimes (2019). Espècies perdudes (1997) marked the emergence of the second lineage, which continued in L’abellerol mort (2009), where the Roger family are ingeniously introduced as well. Nevertheless, if a direct link exists between both lineages which simultaneously embodies the fantastic play that pervades Escartí’s work, those are the ?secondary? characters of Nofra-dona Dolcina. This article has as its purpose to make a tour of his novels thanks to these female characters, which will help verify the important role that magic and fantasy play in them. Escartí stresses this once again through the prominence of a woman in his latest novel, El mas de les ànimes.  Keywords: Valencian historical fiction, Escartí, lineages, female characters, magic, fantasy. 

scholarly journals Woman as the Other—Interpretations of the Gender Wars in “A Woman on a Roof” from the Perspective of Existential Feminism

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 63
Author(s):  
Junying Song
Keyword(s):  
Short Story ◽  
Nobel Prize ◽  
Doris Lessing ◽  
The Other ◽  
Female Characters ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Patriarchal Society ◽  
Male Power ◽  
Lower Status ◽  
The Subject

Doris Lessing is one of the Nobel Prize winners and “A Woman on a Roof” is such a famous short story of hers. In the patriarchal society, women are in the lower status, but the woman in the story struggles bravely to fight against the male power. During her fighting, the woman has doubts and hesitation, but she finally forces the three males to put off their prejudice. This paper focuses on how the woman strives for her own rights, and talks from the perspective of Existential Feminism, taking the main male and female characters in “A Woman on a Roof” as examples, so as to explore women’s self-survival in the dualistic society. Through studying her feminist thinking in the short story, the paper points out that the woman finally transforms her role from the Other to the Subject and then she is in an equal position with the three males. Though the two genders does not reconcile with each other as it seems to be with the purification of rainwater in “A Woman on a Roof”, the woman has made a big progress in the pursuit of her own transcendence.

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