Culinary Inclinations as a Reflection of Identity in Joanne Harris’s ‘Chocolat’

“Tell me what you eat, I’ll tell you what you are.” : Brillat-Savarin. Literature has always been the mode of reflecting human psyche representing the language of people’s culture and traditions. The culture of food is age old and it shapes the individuals as well as a society’s culture. Complex human issues have been analysed using food images on a metaphoric level to represent cultural identities. Importance of food in literature and the role it played in gender studies asserting women’s suppressed individuality and identity is an upcoming area of study. Apart from observing that women are reduced as a kitchen maker, in today’s society kitchen and cooking are a means of expressing one’s identity before the world and is well expressed in various literary forms. Food and its related concerns with feminine identity and domesticity patriarchal oppression, and repressed sexual desire. have been given a central place in many works of women’s literature. One such English writer who used culinary art in her work is Joanne Harris who’s novel Chocolat deals with the magical powers of chocolate and how it works on the people of a particular town attacking the cultural and traditional beliefs of that place rewriting a cultural identity.

Subtitling Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001) in a Chinese Context: The Transfer of Sexuality and Femininity in A Chick Flick

This paper explores how sexuality and femininity1 are transferred in the Chinese subtitles of the chick flick, Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001). In order to address this question, the article is divided into three main parts. In the first section, a review of how the film is received in the Anglophone and Chinese markets is presented respectively, also including the challenges posted to the subtitlers, e.g. the translation of sexuality and swearing in the discourse of women. The second section offers a theoretical framework that structures the paper, adopting Ernst-August Gutt’s (1986) “Relevance Theory” and Anthony Baldry and Paul Thibault’s (2006) “Multimodality” to examine how the Chinese subtitles work for primarily the Chinese female audiences. What follows is a detailed analysis of two situational categories of recurrent features (swearing and sexuality) in the Chinese subtilties of this chick flick, specifically proving constructions of feminist ideology. The paper concludes that the Chinese subtitles articulates a relatively moderate version compared to the original explicit sexuality and taboo language. Such moderation reflects an increasingly improved entanglement of feminine identity in a contemporary Chinese context.

The Eternal Quest for Feminine Identity: An Analysis of Isabel Allende’s Daughter of Fortune

The objective of this paper is to mirror the feminine quest for freedom, self-discovery, identity, revelation and the declaration of equal status along with their male counterparts in society. Hence, it does not justify the male domination which tries to establish a right to impose their will upon the fellow-creature. Feminism is a theory that investigates the various aspects of culture which are inherently patriarchal and the unequal treatment meted out to the women in the established sections of society. Isabel Allende’s Daughter of Fortune points out the various aspects of feminism through the portrayal of the hostile atmosphere where the women strive for their eternal quest for freedom and self-identity. The paper also intends to analyze and explain the transition of a young girl into a powerful woman figure which is indicative of the inner strength and power of the living spirit which is inherited in each woman. Eliza acts as a representative who stands against the constricting forces of patriarchy. This points out the ability of the woman to come out of their cocoons to explore the world. It asserts the value of every woman’s self-identity. The paper analyses how the “quest” of Eliza turns out to be the quest of the woman folk for genuine freedom and self-identity.

The Indian Women Writers and their Contributions to Indian Literature

The Indian women writers are the one who mainly talks about the male ego and female desire for freedom. Through their writings women writer tries to oppose the male dominance over them. Indian women writers depict the injustices, the anguish and the despair they received in a male dominated society. Many of the writings can be considered as a mutiny against the restraints which the society thrust upon women. In this man-centered world they are trying to bring out the feminine identity through their works. Indian women writers never attempted to adopt any masculine roles to achieve themselves as equal as men, but through their writings they came across all the barrier of class, gender and space boundaries. They try to project masculinity and femininity as equal categories. Though through their works the Indian women writers tries to project women’s responses to gender questions. However, they tried to depict the fact that writings of women need not be differentiated by language or location.

Gender, Emotion and Transcendence In John Keats' “Ode On Melanchholy" and Felicia Dorothea Hemans' "Ode to Cheerfulness"

Introduction Melancholy has been tied to the Romantic literary tradition and its preoccupation with intensely emotional experiences, as well as the poetic forms that best accommodate them. Odes, elegies and laments are remarkably prominent in the Romantic canon and have come to epitomize the nineteenth century as a time “steeped in melancholy” (Bowring 38). While Romanticism is largely remembered as an age of melancholy, there were many women poets who were unable to fully access these expressions of sorrow, therefore relying on more joyful emotions that are not as closely associated with the period. Poets such as Felicia Hemans and Letitia Elizabeth Landon wrote on topics of mild sentiment and the domestic, working within structures of feminine identity that were both acceptable and commercial. Although these writers often fought against such conventions in their work, the masculine gendering of melancholy and its connection to poetic genius and transcendence ultimately reduces the ability of women writers to achieve an eternal reputation in the canon of Romantic literature.

Gender, Emotion and Transcendence In John Keats' “Ode On Melanchholy" and Felicia Dorothea Hemans' "Ode to Cheerfulness"

Introduction Melancholy has been tied to the Romantic literary tradition and its preoccupation with intensely emotional experiences, as well as the poetic forms that best accommodate them. Odes, elegies and laments are remarkably prominent in the Romantic canon and have come to epitomize the nineteenth century as a time “steeped in melancholy” (Bowring 38). While Romanticism is largely remembered as an age of melancholy, there were many women poets who were unable to fully access these expressions of sorrow, therefore relying on more joyful emotions that are not as closely associated with the period. Poets such as Felicia Hemans and Letitia Elizabeth Landon wrote on topics of mild sentiment and the domestic, working within structures of feminine identity that were both acceptable and commercial. Although these writers often fought against such conventions in their work, the masculine gendering of melancholy and its connection to poetic genius and transcendence ultimately reduces the ability of women writers to achieve an eternal reputation in the canon of Romantic literature.

Discursive construction of the perception of gender identity: The case of tenants and owners in re-privatization/property restitution in Warsaw

The article examines how the perception of gender identities of tenants and owners was constructed in normalizing discourses regarding re-privatization/property restitution in Warsaw in 2004-2016. As a theoretical approach, it applies the feminist post-structuralist perspective developed by Sophie Watson (2000a). The data were collected with discourse analysis, as proposed by Judith Baxter (2008a). The article identifies two discourses pertaining to re-privatization/property restitution in Warsaw: 1) property restitution discourse, under which returning property to former owners (or their heirs) is presented as a moral imperative; and 2) expropriation of tenants discourse, focusing on abuse, fraud and human misfortune stemming from the passage of municipal housing stock to the descendants of former owners. In both discourses, tenants were ascribed a feminine identity, and owners a masculine one (G. Hofstede, G.J. Hofstede, 2007). That affected the tenants' and owners' positions in the housing policy process.

Thai transgender women in Europe: Migration, gender and binational relationships

The article identifies subtle structural and socio-political issues behind kathoeys’ (Thai male-to-female transgender) migration decisions and categorizes the structural aspirations of their migrations to Europe and their goals to be in binational relationships in their search for a “better life.” The research was conducted in Thailand, Belgium, the Netherlands, the UK and Denmark. The article also reveals kathoeys’ irregular migration and outlines relevant literature in the light of gender, sexuality and migration, as well as their sentimental dynamic and feminine identity formation validated by their binational relationships under crypto-colonized cultural ideologies.