Why Is Jane Austen More Popular Than George Gissing? (Classics Club #6) « Clarissa's Blog
People don’t understand feminist irony. They take irony to be whining about one’s allotted female role, when irony is a renunciation of that role. I particularly enjoyed something I read in Marechera’s shamanistic novel, Black Sunlight. He opens a chapter by introducing us to an entirely new female character. This woman had chosen the profession of makeup artist, a conventionally feminine choice. Her deeper instincts, however, took over when she was practicing her art. She’d draw the lines incorrectly on the face and then have an overwhelming desire to destroy the face and her art. It made her realize she wanted to be a revolutionary.
The strong feminist message in this is that when a woman is filtered into a typical female occupation, she may find it so limiting that she starts to go mad and become a revolutionary.
An interpretation is always a choice, however. One can read the story this way, as I think Marechera intended it to be read, for he was also a cultural revolutionary. Or, one can read a patriarchal message into the text. Perhaps the character became a revolutionary because she was incapable, emotional, or ugly.
The attribution of a whiny nature to a female character is typical of patriarchal ways of making sense of a text. I have found that the less compliant a woman is, the more conservatives will view her character as inherently negative or deficient. Because predominant patriarchal readings give such interpretations to texts, it is difficult to discover books about strong women.
People don’t understand feminist irony. They take irony to be whining about one’s allotted female role, when irony is a renunciation of that role. I particularly enjoyed something I read in Marechera’s shamanistic novel, Black Sunlight. He opens a chapter by introducing us to an entirely new female character. This woman had chosen the profession of makeup artist, a conventionally feminine choice. Her deeper instincts, however, took over when she was practicing her art. She’d draw the lines incorrectly on the face and then have an overwhelming desire to destroy the face and her art. It made her realize she wanted to be a revolutionary.
The strong feminist message in this is that when a woman is filtered into a typical female occupation, she may find it so limiting that she starts to go mad and become a revolutionary.
An interpretation is always a choice, however. One can read the story this way, as I think Marechera intended it to be read, for he was also a cultural revolutionary. Or, one can read a patriarchal message into the text. Perhaps the character became a revolutionary because she was incapable, emotional, or ugly.
The attribution of a whiny nature to a female character is typical of patriarchal ways of making sense of a text. I have found that the less compliant a woman is, the more conservatives will view her character as inherently negative or deficient. Because predominant patriarchal readings give such interpretations to texts, it is difficult to discover books about strong women.
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