scholarly journals A Mirror of Society: Feminist Advocacy in Emilia Pardo Bazán's Short Stories

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Patricia Ramsay

<p>This thesis is concerned with the manner in which the fin de siècle Spanish writer Emilia Pardo Bazán (1851–1921) disseminated her feminist views through her short stories published in popular newspapers and journals. As a female writer, she incurred the ire of many of her male contemporaries, challenging them both personally with her feminist views, and professionally, with her erudition and immense literary output. In this thesis I offer firstly an overview of Spanish society during Pardo Bazán’s lifetime with particular reference to the situation of women and go on to outline her life and most significant achievements, literary and otherwise, with a view to contextualising the narrative analysis which follows. Twelve of Pardo Bazán’s selected short stories are analysed in the light of the feminist topics which she addressed in several of her essays and, where possible, I correlate these stories with the relevant essays. In particular, I examine issues of female literacy, legal rights and prostitution, as well as the gendered double standards of the time in the area of religious observance and, in particular, the double moral standard. I also examine stories where women did exercise a degree of agency and act in ways that went against patriarchal standards of behaviour, making life-changing decisions. I argue that in these twelve stories, it is evident that not only is each one able to be read as seemingly conforming with the mores of the patriarchal society, but that each one also has a veiled subtext where the injustices suffered by the female protagonists are made evident. Thus, I show that these stories align with Pardo Bazán’s essays and promote her broader feminist views to the reader willing to consider them.</p>

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Patricia Ramsay

<p>This thesis is concerned with the manner in which the fin de siècle Spanish writer Emilia Pardo Bazán (1851–1921) disseminated her feminist views through her short stories published in popular newspapers and journals. As a female writer, she incurred the ire of many of her male contemporaries, challenging them both personally with her feminist views, and professionally, with her erudition and immense literary output. In this thesis I offer firstly an overview of Spanish society during Pardo Bazán’s lifetime with particular reference to the situation of women and go on to outline her life and most significant achievements, literary and otherwise, with a view to contextualising the narrative analysis which follows. Twelve of Pardo Bazán’s selected short stories are analysed in the light of the feminist topics which she addressed in several of her essays and, where possible, I correlate these stories with the relevant essays. In particular, I examine issues of female literacy, legal rights and prostitution, as well as the gendered double standards of the time in the area of religious observance and, in particular, the double moral standard. I also examine stories where women did exercise a degree of agency and act in ways that went against patriarchal standards of behaviour, making life-changing decisions. I argue that in these twelve stories, it is evident that not only is each one able to be read as seemingly conforming with the mores of the patriarchal society, but that each one also has a veiled subtext where the injustices suffered by the female protagonists are made evident. Thus, I show that these stories align with Pardo Bazán’s essays and promote her broader feminist views to the reader willing to consider them.</p>


2017 ◽  
Vol II (I) ◽  
pp. 114-129 ◽  
Author(s):  
Noreen Zainab ◽  
Aisha Jadoon ◽  
Muhammad Nawaz

Pakistani housewives suffer emotional and psychological repression in their daily lives, which result in the mental instability and psychological disorders. Through the analysis of two short stories by Pakistani feminist writers Shaila Abdullah and Rukhsana Ahmad, this paper studies the repressions of Pakistani housewives, and their emotional sufferings, to identify the long-lasting effects of emotional abuse among Pakistani women. Using the Freudian theory of unconscious as theoretical basis, this paper analyzed the unconscious of both female protagonists, the stereotypical Pakistani housewives. Through narrative analysis of both short stories, it is concluded that due to the Pakistani culture of silence and secrets unconscious of women becomes their cage, a cage that restrains all their unexpressed emotions, fears and memories. This paper suggests consciousness raising among Pakistani women regarding the significance of their psychological health, which can destroy their lives without them knowing about it


2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 843-860 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mildred F. Perreault ◽  
Gregory Pearson Perreault ◽  
Joy Jenkins ◽  
Ariel Morrison

Digital games historically hold a spotty record on gender depictions. The lack of depth in female characters has long been the norm; however, an increasing number of female protagonists are headlining games. This study used narrative theory to examine depictions of four female protagonists in four 2013 Design, Innovate, Communicate, Entertain Award-Winning Digital Games: The Last of Us, Bioshock Infinite, Tomb Raider, and Beyond: Two Souls. Studying these media depictions provides context for how women’s stories are recorded in society. Stereotype subversions largely occur within familiar game narratives, and the female protagonists were still largely limited and defined by male figures in the games.


2013 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 177-185
Author(s):  
Nahid Kaiser

Female writers have always been vocal against the tyranny of the overwhelming demon of patriarchy. Some of the writings of contemporary Bangladeshi female writers like Selina Hossain and Purabi Basu, exhibit a strong sense of resistance to the overpowering hegemony of paterfamilias. The aim of this paper is to focus on the tendency of de-centering the masculine logocentricism as shown in two of the short stories of Purabi Basu, “Radha Will Not Cook Today” and “Saleha’s Desire”. In these texts, we will find two resistant female protagonists, Radha and Saleha, who stand in their own way against societal expectations and break away with the roles the society has imposed on them. Their weapons are either silence or indifference or even violence. Moreover, their resistance may not lead to any positive conclusion. Yet, they are to be celebrated because of their power to oppose the oppressive or suppressive power. Stamford Journal of English; Volume 6; Page 177-185 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/sje.v6i0.13912


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Anne Doreen Brown

<p>This thesis provides an introductory view of the life and works of early New Zealand romantic novelist Charlotte Evans 1841-1882. The work is comprised of three separate sections, including two introductions, a biographical essay and footnoting and markup for digitisation. Evans wrote short stories in addition to novels and poetry. I have attempted to create here a useful and informative overview of her two published novels Over the Hills and Far Away: A Story of New Zealand and A Strange Friendship: A Story of New Zealand - each of which were published in 1874. In the biographical essay I include a discussion of Evans’ general works, in particular the collection of poetry published by her husband Eyre Evans in 1917 entitled Poetic Gems of Sacred Thought. An important feature of the thesis has been to establish how Evans’ range of literary output may be cited and contextualised within New Zealand’s literary heritage in more detail than has previously been available. A significant aspect of the research has, in addition, involved examining the social and historical influences surrounding the author, both prior to and at the time of writing. In that respect the discussion has drawn upon available materials, such as book reviews and items published in newspapers. An appendix has been compiled of selected published poetry and articles from the North Otago Times of relevance to the foregoing text discussion. Contemporary photographs of Evans and map material of the ‘Teaneraki’ district are also included. It is hoped that situating the research evidence to specifically New Zealand contexts may provide a basis for positing Evans’ works more fully as New Zealand texts in their overall relation to pioneer period fiction. An important feature of the project has therefore meant developing a foundation of historical work concerning the author, much of which has been sourced from the National Alexander Turnbull Library and recently published family history that draws upon archive material related to the Evans and Lees families. Due reference to a range of recent critical texts has also, it is further hoped, enabled a more in-depth and detailed response to Evans’ contribution to the developing field of New Zealand literature and more specifically, Victorian Studies.</p>


Author(s):  
Azadeh Nouri ◽  
Fatemeh Aziz Mohammadi

In 1979, Carter published one of her mast renowned collections of short fiction, The Bloody Chamber. The majority of Angela Carter’s work revolve around a specific type of feminism, radical libertarian feminism and her critique of the patriarchal role that have been placed on women. which she promotes feminist due to her style, referred to as "Galm-Rock" feminism In this article, the main concentrate is on heroine’s internalized consciousness which echoes in their behavior. All of the female protagonists in carter’s short stories; such as The Werewolf, The Wolf_Alice,and mainly in The Company of Wolves have similar characteristics with different conditions, in which they are represented in a very negative light with less than ideal roles. In these stories, the protagonist is a young girl who has many conflicts with love and desire. Carter attempts to encourage women to do something about this degrading representation.


Author(s):  
Ranita Chakraborty Dasgupta

<p><em>In this paper I propose to read and discuss two short stories, Luisa Valenzuela’s <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Other Weapons</span> and Mahasweta Devi’s <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Draupadi</span> under a comparative spectrum. This apparent unlikely comparison from two distinct social, political, linguistic and cultural paradigms, as diverse as Latin America (Cuba?) and Bengal, is the result of my curious attempt to decipher Laura and Dopdi on the lines of Judith Butler’s notion of ‘gender performativity’. </em></p><p><em>In these two stories, quite distinct and diverse from each other in terms of the story line, the plot and the construction of the characters, I am more than intrigued on coming across this subtle yet compelling similarity between the ways in which the two female protagonists conduct their selves. I do suspect that both the authors from their given cultural positionings are carrying out a premeditated purposeful experiment. They make Laura and Dopdi/Draupadi render their individual resistance and protests in coherence to the world in terms of the body, its performance and their gender. I am yet to articulate this somewhat uncanny link that I can feel is there but have to discover it through a very careful process of unlayering. </em></p>


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Jennifer Julian

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] I'm Here, I'm Listening is a creative dissertation that makes the case for non-realist speculation as a fundamental tool for creative writers. The collection's twelve short stories push against the boundaries of realism, borrowing from genre conventions found in historic fiction, fabulism, and sci-fi to investigate the uncanny intersection of ecology, technology, and the human experience. The critical introduction, "New Worlds, Green Futures," argues for the political potential in science fiction and speculative writing. It close reads two novels -- Margaret Atwood's Surfacing (1972) and Ruth Ozeki's A Tale for the Time Being (2013) -- and argues that the cathartic instances of time travel in these novels serve to break down the societal limitations of gender, time, environment, and species. The creative component of the dissertation depicts variations on womanhood and loss. The stories' many female protagonists contend with missing parents, siblings, and partners, absences both physical and emotional. Non-realist and speculative genres highlight the estranging experience of mourning. Characters must navigate strange and perilous dystopias, and many face external conflicts typical of a Cold War era sci-fi film--mutant spiders, doorways to other dimensions, sentient plant people, and cyber-ghosts. At the same time, the collection hones in on these women's interior lives, exploring, not only what makes their world strange and surreal, but what sense of beauty can be found and what connections can be forged in the wake of their own personal apocalypses.


2005 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 213-229
Author(s):  
Teresa M. Hurley

This article explores how in two short stories, ‘‘La primera vez que me vi’’ (The First Time I Saw Myself) and ‘‘El niñño perdido’’ (The Lost Child), Elena Garro draws on several discourses, contrasting the official one of the status quo (in post-revolutionary Mexico) with the alternative discourses of those who find themselves on the margins of society or in exile and hence in the position of ‘‘Other’’. The article also focuses on the way the marginalization of the female protagonists of the stories in some ways reflects that experienced by the author at a certain point in her life. Este artíículo explora cóómo en los dos cuentos, ‘‘La primera vez que me vi’’ y ‘‘El niñño perdido’’, Elena Garro utiliza varios discursos para contrastar la voz oficial del statu quo (del Mééxico pos-revolucionario) con los discursos alternativos de los que se encuentran en los máárgenes de la sociedad o en el exilio y, por ende, en la situacióón de ‘‘Otro’’. El artíículo tambiéén se centra en la forma en que la marginacióón de las protagonistas de los cuentos refleja, en ciertos aspectos, la de de la misma autora en algúún momento de su vida.


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