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Edwidge Danticat : a feminist poetics of oppression
Author
Lee, Joanne May Lyn
Supervisor
Matilda Gabrielpillai Rose Sharmala
Abstract
This Academic Exercise attempts to draw out a feminist poetics of oppression from the work of contemporary Haitian-American writer Edwidge Danticat, who writes about the suffering of the post-colonial society of Haiti under the rule of dictators and the forces of American imperialism. I apply the theory of Sandra M. Gilbert, Susan Gubar, as well as that of Helene Cixous in terms of their discussion of feminist poetics, i.e. how to read women's writing in terms of identifying a feminist language, mythology and perspective. My study found that Danticat offers a new, humanistic look at oppression in politically unstable countries by, among other strategies, offering a feminist re-visioning of Haitian history, one that highlights the devastating effects of national political violence on women's bodies and their lives. I also identify her representation of trauma caused by political massacres and military coups as being of interest. Danticat uses the literary mode of Magic Realism to represent the 'otherness' of Haitian experience. As a woman writer, she also employs Magic Realism to construct a feminist perspective of national politics, allowing her thereby to escape from conventional patriarchal modes of thought. An essential part of Danticat's poetics of oppression is the ideal alternative female world that always haunts the text as a representation of liberation. She appropriates the figure of the Christian Virgin Mary, hybridising her with the Haitian native goddess, Erzulie, as a trope to signal a post-colonial female spirituality that has emerged in response to male patriarchal and imperialistic violence. My work tries to grasp the dynamics through which Danticat manages to turn readers' gaze from Haiti back onto themselves, their lives, their nations, and to disturb their understanding of what is 'normal'.
Date Issued
2004
Call Number
PS3554.A5815 Lee
Date Submitted
2004