The female body in question: a study of Monique Wittig's writings with particular reference to L'Opoponax
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This thesis is a comprehensive study of Monique Wittig's fiction, in
which I explore the links between womanhood, sisterhood and writing.
Particular attention is paid to L'Opoponax (1964), in which I argue that
Wittig suggests a way out of the impasse of Freudian theories of
femininity. This is achieved at all levels: stylistic, formal and
thematic. I begin by defining my psychoanalytic and literary contexts
(Freud, Klein and Irigaray for the former, contemporary French, English
and American women's writing for the latter), in order to introduce the
major debates connected with the concept of the female body and its
representation in Western culture. I then show how the Freudian drama
of sexual difference - namely, castration anxiety as it affects the
little girl - is both powerfully evoked and systematically sidestepped
in L'Opoponax, with its focus on relationships between women. Using
Klein and Irigaray, I describe the problems arising within the
mother/daughter dyad. I suggest that L'Opoponax hints at a healed
relationship but also leaves much unsorted; this is seen to pull against
the radical innovations of later texts, particularly Le Corps lesbien,
accounting for some of the violence to be found there. The question of
the mother versus the woman is thus not fully closed, but creates a
space within which the amantes, female lovers, can begin to live and
move. I end by replacing this question within its wider context as it
is a crucial one for the future development of feminist writing.
Authors
Hannagan Lewis, Valerie ChristineCollections
- Theses [4495]