Different cultures, common bonds: A study of female alienation in twentieth-century novels by United States and Spanish American women
Abstract
This study attempts to identify and elucidate some of the cultural patterns and literary trends that have affected the work of U.S. and Spanish American women authors during the second half of the twentieth century. The selection of this frame of reference reflects my interest in following some of the socio-historical changes that occurred after World War II and the Intellectual impact of the Second Wave of the Women's Movement on women's writing. Although the Second Wave of the Women's Movement was a cultural event that took place mainly in the U.S., its philosophical influence was also felt in Spanish America. Chapter One analyzes how the structures of our sex-gender systems have affected U.S. and Spanish American women's perceptions of themselves and their self-representation in the novels they write. I use Elena Garro's Los recuerdos del porvenir and Erica Jong's Fear of Flying as examples that highlight these problems. Chapter Two examines how current gender arrangements have turned the mother/daughter relationship into a stumbling block in the way of a woman's journey toward self-development. I trace the depiction of this relationship in Marilyn French's Her Mother's Daughter and Marta Lynch's La senora Ordonez. Chapter Three focuses on the family as an institution in the service of patriarchy. Here I examine fictional representations of "the family" in La casa de los espiritus by Isabel Allende and Play It As It Lays by Joan Didion. The study concludes by suggesting that the novels written by U.S. and Spanish American women during the second half of the twentieth century insistently deal with similar topics and concerns. They compulsively present stories of female characters, who, constrained by the patriarchal values of their societies, feel alienated, powerless, and self-estranged yet attempt to break the chains that bind them. These fictional stories reflect in turn the writers' own alienation as they emerge as self-conscious female subjects and search for a discourse that can genuinely reflect their experiences.
Degree
Ph.D.
Advisors
Thompson, Purdue University.
Subject Area
American literature|Latin American literature|Womens studies
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