Tag: Oral Session 3 O

Reconceptualizing Feminist Utopias: Marge Piercy’s Woman on the Edge of Time and Margaret Drabble’s The Millstone

Presenter(s): Bethan Tyler

Faculty Mentor(s): Elizabeth Raisanen

Oral Session 3 O

Theories of feminist utopia tend to focus on its presence within science/speculative fiction, upholding works like Marge Piercy’s 1976 novel Woman on the Edge of Time as exemplars of the genre. Literary critics typically designate this novel’s vision of the future, the community of Mattapoisett, as a source of radical, mobilizing inspiration for feminists. I will argue against this reading by attesting that Mattapoisett presents a regressive model of feminism in its failure to permit women the choice of (traditional) maternity and, moreover, does not sufficiently distance itself from that which is condemned in the novel’s dystopian present – the stripping of women’s reproductive agency. Mattapoisett thus fails to fulfill half of Sally Miller Gearhart’s essential criteria for the identification of feminist utopia. By contrast, I argue that Margaret Drabble’s 1965 novel, The Millstone, presents a radical vision of maternity, as divorced from patriarchy, that aligns with threads of the feminist movement yet to come at the time of its publication, and that this, under Gearhart’s framework, strongly suggests the presence of a feminist utopia. This is striking in that the novel is categorized as a work of realism, rather than science fiction. By revealing the vision of feminism within a speculative fiction novel to be retrograde in comparison with that of a realistic novel, I argue that feminism unyokes realism from the present, thus collapsing boundaries between genres, and making a case for the study of the feminist utopia in realms beyond science fiction.

“Swim the Warm Waters of Sins of the Flesh”: Deviant Gender and Sexuality in Frankenstein and The Rocky Horror Picture Show

Presenter(s): Alyssa Pete

Oral Session 3 O

A myriad of authors have examined gender roles and sexuality in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818), directing their attention to the homosexual undertones in the relationship between Victor Frankenstein and his creature, the incestuous connection between Victor and Elizabeth, and Victor’s role as either male scientist or mother. While studies of similar themes and relationships in The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) are growing in number, they are still limited. Furthermore, there is little literature that directly compares the two works and when they are discussed simultaneously, the emphasis remains on thematic similarities and differences of The Rocky Horror Picture Show as a variant of the original 1818 text. This essay works to directly utilize the blatant representation of shifting gender roles and sexuality in The Rocky Horror Picture Show to illuminate or reevaluate our understanding of subliminal homosexual desires, negative coding of sexuality, and androgyny present in Frankenstein. By analyzing the characterization of and relationships between characters in both the novel and film, I will demonstrate the corresponding depictions of gender roles and sexuality in each text. This essay will also draw from the cultural context of the novel and film, the 19th century and the 1970s respectively, to understand the differences in the visibility and reception of shifting gender and sexuality norms in Frankenstein and The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

A Woman’s Voice: Methods and Obstacles of Feminist Translation in Persian, Spanish, and Turkish Poetry

Presenter(s): Elmira Louie

Faculty Mentor(s): Leah Middlebrook & Michael Allan

Oral Session 3 O

One feature of poetry is its ability to prompt words to create meaning in unusual ways. A striking example appears in a twentieth-century Persian poem, where a seemingly innocuous word like “hair” carries an unexpected meaning that inscribes gender in a language without gendered pronouns. Drawing from the area of inquiry of feminist translation theory, I track the work of three key poets: the Spanish Rosalía de Castro, the Persian Forugh Farrokhzad, and the Turkish Gülten Akın. I argue that feminist translation theory, when expanded beyond its current Eurocentric frame, reshapes conventional understandings of gender. My project works to dismantle misogynistic aspects of patriarchal language through translation, and uses the process of transference to reclaim the “feminine” voice through women poets writing under cultural marginalization. At the same time, I offer my own alternative feminist translations as a means to examine the implications of transnational feminist translation for world literature writ large. My ambition for this project is thus additive and transformative of both feminist translation theory and poetics.

The Life of the Composer Francesca Caccini and How It Reflects the Music and Culture of the Baroque Period

Presenter(s): Abigail Kellems

Oral Session 3 O

This project explores the life of Francesca Caccini and her path to both musical and societal success, which were difficult for women of her period to combine. Through talent, work, circumstance, and an understanding of her context, Caccini rose to significance not only in her time, but in ours. Her collection of monodic music (a single vocal line with basso continuo accompaniment) is studied today for knowledge about the Baroque period. Her works illustrate the musical elements in vogue during the Baroque era, such as monody, contrast, and the importance of text. By studying books, dictionaries, and musical scores, I have discovered that Caccini not only survived as a female musician, but flourished. She was educated by her father Giulio Caccini, a well-established composer. By spending almost all of her professional life as a married woman, she was able to elude the shadow of the courtesan that followed most female musicians during her time.She developed many skills, enabling her not only to compose, but also to teach and perform. And her utilization of the patronage system ensured her steady work. By studying her life, we can learn about the challenges that female musicians had to navigate during her era in order to remain in good standing. By studying her music, we can understand the aesthetic values of that society, as well as of music at the time. And by studying her success, musicians can learn how to achieve their own.

“The Harbinger of Category Crisis”: Understanding Representations of Monstrosity in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein

Presenter(s): Corinne Brubaker

Oral Session 3 O

The “us versus them” binary is the primary rift that divides and defines human culture. The historical catalyst of both destruction and union, this binary is also a prominent literary motif. In the case of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the humanity, or possibly the monstrosity, of Frankenstein’s creature is the source of “us versus them” confusion and debate. A being constructed of human parts, yet neither gestated nor born as a true human being, the creature is a cause of terror for all characters in the story, including himself. Jeffrey Jerome Cohen’s third thesis from “Monster Culture (Seven Theses)” describes monsters as those who “[refuse] to participate in the classificatory ‘order of things’” thereby distinguishing them as defiant of the “us versus them” binary (Cohen 3). Julia Kristeva’s abject theory and Sigmund Freud’s concept of the uncanny are both examples of category disruption at play in Frankenstein, resulting in moments of uncertainty that support the creature’s inability to be defined. Using the work of Freud and Kristeva, I seek to demonstrate the ways in which Frankenstein’s monster upholds Cohen’s third thesis, thereby proving that his monstrosity is defined by his very inability to fit into the “us versus them” binary.