Abstract
This paper examines the strategies Anne Sexton, Carol Ann Duffy, and Margaret Atwood employ in their revisionist mythmaking project to disclose and denounce the detrimental impact of patriarchal norms and institutions on women and gender equality. The poets rewrite classical myths and fairy tales this time to tell the stories of those who have been excluded from historical and sociocultural narratives. The new stories of Sexton, Duffy, and Atwood unsettle gender stereotypes with humorous and purposely bathetic plot twists and enable women to reject secondary roles historically attributed to them. Female characters in the poems reclaim their power through literary (re)creation by confronting male domination and internalized guilt over feelings of incompetence. This paper proposes that these revisionist strategies may help to forge an independent identity for women, artists and non-artists alike, and to generate the necessary critical response against the oppressive discourse of patriarchy.
Keywords
feminist rewriting myth fairy tales poetry Sexton Duffy Atwood
References
- Atwood, M. (1995). Morning in the burned house. Canada: McClelland & Stewart.
- Atwood, M. (1998). Selected poems I, 1965-1975. Canada: Mariner Books.
- Barthes, R. (1972). Mythologies (Annette Lavers, Trans). New York: Hill and Wang.
- Bettelheim, B. (1977). The uses of enchantment: The meaning and importance of fairy tales. New York: Random House.
- Blumenberg, H. (1988). The work on myth (Robert Wallace, Trans.). Cambridge: MIT Press.
- Buxton, R.G.A. (2021). Myth. In Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/myth.
- Cambridge Dictionary (n.d.) The world and his wife. Retrieved January 20, 2021, from https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/world-and-his-wife?q=the+world+and
- Cixous, H. (1976) The laugh of the Medusa. Signs, 1 (4), pp. 875-893.
- Cixous, H. (1986). The newly born woman (Betsy Wing, Trans.). Minnesota: Univertiy of Minnesota Press.
- Dowson, J. (2016). Carol Ann Duffy: Poet for our times. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
- Duffy, C.A. (1999). The world’s wife. London: Picador.
- DuPlessis, R. B. (1975). The critique of consciousness and myth in Levertov, Rich, and Rukeyser. Feminist Studies, 3 (1/2), 199-221.
- Frye, N. (1961). Myth, fiction, and displacement. Daedalus, 61 (3), 587-605.
- Frye, N. (1963). Fables of identity: Studies in poetic mythology. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World.
- Gilbert, S. M. (1980). Confessional mythology. Myth in Contemporary Women’s Poetry. MLA Convention, Special Session.
- Gilbert, S.M and S. Gubar. (1979). The madwoman in the attic: the woman writer and the nineteenth-century literary imagination. New Haven: Yale UP.
- Hall, C.K.B. (1989). Anne Sexton. Boston: Twayne Publishers.
- Johnston, G. (1980). The ruthless story and the future tense in Margaret Atwood's Circe /mud poems. Studies in Canadian Literature, 5(1), 167-176.
- Kermode, F. (2000). The sense of an ending: Studies in the theory of fiction (3rd ed.). New York: Oxford UP.
- Lauter, E. (1984). Women as mythmakers: Poetry and visual art by twentieth century women. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
- Ostriker, A. (1982). The thieves of language: Women poets and revisionist mythmaking. Signs VIII (I), 68-90.
- Rich, A. (1973). Diving into the wreck: Poems 1971-1972. New York: Norton, 1973.
- Rich, A. (1972). When we dead awaken: Writing as re-vision. College English, 34 (1), 18-30.
- Sexton, A. (1971) Transformations. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
- Showalter, E. (1977). A literature of their own: British women novelists from Charlotte Brontë to Lessing. New York: Princeton UP.
- Winterson, J. (2015, January 17). Of course it’s political. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jan/17/jeanette-winterson-on-carol-ann-duffys-the-worlds- wife
- Zipes, J. (1994). Fairy tale as myth, myth as fairy tale. Lexington, KY: Kentucky UP.
- Zipes, J. (2006). Fairy tales and the art of subversion. New York: Routledge.
Abstract
Bu makale Anne Sexton, Carol Ann Duffy ve Margaret Atwood’un revizyonist mit yazımı projelerinde erkek egemen toplumun norm ve kurumlarının kadınlar ve toplumsal cinsiyet eşitliği üzerindeki olumsuz etkilerini ortaya çıkarmak ve reddetmek için kullandığı stratejileri ele alır. Şairler klasik mit ve masalları bu kez tarihsel ve sosyokültürel anlatılardan dışlananların göz ardı edilen hikayelerini anlatmak amacıyla yeniden yazarlar. Sexton, Duffy ve Atwood’un yeni hikayeleri toplumsal cinsiyet kalıplarını mizahi öğelerle ve ters köşelerle altüst eder ve kadınlara tarih boyunca atfedilen ikincil rolleri reddeder. Şiirlerdeki kadın karakterler erkek şiddeti ve yetersizlik hissinden kaynaklanan içselleştirilmiş suçluluk duygularıyla yüzleşerek edebi (yeniden) üretim aracılığıyla güçlerini geri kazanırlar. Bu makale bahsi geçen stratejilerin kadınların bağımsız kimlik inşasına katkıda bulunabileceğini ve erkek egemen düzenin baskıcı söylemine karşın elzem bir eleştirel karşılık oluşturabileceğini iddia eder.
References
- Atwood, M. (1995). Morning in the burned house. Canada: McClelland & Stewart.
- Atwood, M. (1998). Selected poems I, 1965-1975. Canada: Mariner Books.
- Barthes, R. (1972). Mythologies (Annette Lavers, Trans). New York: Hill and Wang.
- Bettelheim, B. (1977). The uses of enchantment: The meaning and importance of fairy tales. New York: Random House.
- Blumenberg, H. (1988). The work on myth (Robert Wallace, Trans.). Cambridge: MIT Press.
- Buxton, R.G.A. (2021). Myth. In Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/myth.
- Cambridge Dictionary (n.d.) The world and his wife. Retrieved January 20, 2021, from https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/world-and-his-wife?q=the+world+and
- Cixous, H. (1976) The laugh of the Medusa. Signs, 1 (4), pp. 875-893.
- Cixous, H. (1986). The newly born woman (Betsy Wing, Trans.). Minnesota: Univertiy of Minnesota Press.
- Dowson, J. (2016). Carol Ann Duffy: Poet for our times. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
- Duffy, C.A. (1999). The world’s wife. London: Picador.
- DuPlessis, R. B. (1975). The critique of consciousness and myth in Levertov, Rich, and Rukeyser. Feminist Studies, 3 (1/2), 199-221.
- Frye, N. (1961). Myth, fiction, and displacement. Daedalus, 61 (3), 587-605.
- Frye, N. (1963). Fables of identity: Studies in poetic mythology. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World.
- Gilbert, S. M. (1980). Confessional mythology. Myth in Contemporary Women’s Poetry. MLA Convention, Special Session.
- Gilbert, S.M and S. Gubar. (1979). The madwoman in the attic: the woman writer and the nineteenth-century literary imagination. New Haven: Yale UP.
- Hall, C.K.B. (1989). Anne Sexton. Boston: Twayne Publishers.
- Johnston, G. (1980). The ruthless story and the future tense in Margaret Atwood's Circe /mud poems. Studies in Canadian Literature, 5(1), 167-176.
- Kermode, F. (2000). The sense of an ending: Studies in the theory of fiction (3rd ed.). New York: Oxford UP.
- Lauter, E. (1984). Women as mythmakers: Poetry and visual art by twentieth century women. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
- Ostriker, A. (1982). The thieves of language: Women poets and revisionist mythmaking. Signs VIII (I), 68-90.
- Rich, A. (1973). Diving into the wreck: Poems 1971-1972. New York: Norton, 1973.
- Rich, A. (1972). When we dead awaken: Writing as re-vision. College English, 34 (1), 18-30.
- Sexton, A. (1971) Transformations. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
- Showalter, E. (1977). A literature of their own: British women novelists from Charlotte Brontë to Lessing. New York: Princeton UP.
- Winterson, J. (2015, January 17). Of course it’s political. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jan/17/jeanette-winterson-on-carol-ann-duffys-the-worlds- wife
- Zipes, J. (1994). Fairy tale as myth, myth as fairy tale. Lexington, KY: Kentucky UP.
- Zipes, J. (2006). Fairy tales and the art of subversion. New York: Routledge.
Details
| Primary Language | English |
|---|---|
| Subjects | Creative Arts and Writing |
| Journal Section | English Language and Literature |
| Authors | |
| Publication Date | April 27, 2021 |
| Submission Date | October 25, 2020 |
| Acceptance Date | February 25, 2021 |
| Published in Issue | Year 2021 |