THE VOICES OF GENDER RECONSTRUCTING HISTORY IN DORIS LESSING’S “THE CLEFT”

Authors

  • Elisabeta Simona CATANĂ Polytechnic University of Bucharest, West University of Timişoara. Contact address: <catanasimona@yahoo.com>

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.24193/subbphilo.2017.1.02

Keywords:

gender, voices, the feminine principle, the masculine principle, history, story, language competency, sexuality, vision.

Abstract

The Voices of Gender Reconstructing History in Doris Lessing’s The Cleft. This essay analyses Doris Lessing’s vision upon history as a postmodernist story written from a masculine and from a feminine perspective according to the narrators’ specific gender. It shows that the voices of gender lay the groundwork for subjective, gender-biased discourses on the history of gender relations, on the evolution of the male-female relationships in time. The capacity of gender to influence the protagonists’ vision upon history as well as the development of their cognitive and linguistic abilities will be focused on in this essay.

REZUMAT. Reconstruirea istoriei prin vocea genului în romanul Mitra de Doris Lessing. Eseul analizează viziunea scriitoarei Doris Lessing asupra istoriei ca poveste postmodernistă scrisă dintr-o perspectivă masculină şi dintr-o perspectivă feminină în funcţie de genul specific al naratorilor. Eseul arată că vocile genului naratorilor pun bazele discursurilor lor subiective şi părtinitoare despre istoria evoluţiei relaţiilor dintre genuri, dintre bărbaţi şi femei în timp. Capacitatea unui gen de a influenţa viziunea protagoniştilor asupra istoriei şi dezvoltarea abilităţilor lingvistice şi cognitive ale acestora va fi scoasă în evidenţă în acest eseu.

Cuvinte cheie: gen, voci, principiul feminin, principiul masculin, istorie, poveste, competenţă lingvistică, sexualitate, viziune.

Author Biography

Elisabeta Simona CATANĂ, Polytechnic University of Bucharest, West University of Timişoara. Contact address: <catanasimona@yahoo.com>

Elisabeta Simona Catană is Lecturer of English at the Polytechnic University of Bucharest. Her publications investigate literary topics, methodological approaches to teaching English and Romanian for foreign students, and e-learning strategies. She has a PhD in Philology from The West University of Timişoara. Contact address: <catanasimona@yahoo.com>

References

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---. Gender Trouble. Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. New York and London: Routledge, 1990. Print.

Hutcheon, Linda. The Politics of Postmodernism. 2nd edition. London and New York: Routledge, 2002. Print.

Lessing, Doris. The Cleft. New York: HarperCollins, 2007. Print.

McClure, Laura K. Sexuality and Gender in the Classical World. Readings and Sources. Edited by Laura K. McClure. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 2002. Print.

Waugh, Patricia. Metafiction. The Theory and Practice of Self-Conscious Fiction. London and New York: Routledge, 1984. Print.

Zeitlin, F.I. “Playing the Other: Theater, Theatricality, and the Feminine in Greek Drama”. Sexuality and Gender in the Classical World. Readings and Sources. Edited by Laura K. McClure. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 2002. Print.

STUDIA UBB PHILOLOGIA, Volume 62 (LXII), No. 1, March 2017

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Published

2017-03-24

How to Cite

CATANĂ, E. S. (2017). THE VOICES OF GENDER RECONSTRUCTING HISTORY IN DORIS LESSING’S “THE CLEFT”. Studia Universitatis Babeș-Bolyai Philologia, 62(1), 23–34. https://doi.org/10.24193/subbphilo.2017.1.02

Issue

Volume 62, No. 1, 2017

Section

Articles

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