Feminist discourse in the dramatic works of Jana Bodnárová Cover Image

Feministický diskurz v dramatickej tvorbe Jany Bodnárovej
Feminist discourse in the dramatic works of Jana Bodnárová

Author(s): Nora Nagyová
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies
Published by: Ústav slovenskej literatúry SAV
Keywords: Jana Bodnárová; Slovak drama; feminism; women’s writing; Hélène Cixous

Summary/Abstract: The article focuses on the dramatic work of the Slovak writer Jana Bodnárová (b. 1950) in the intersections of feminist tendencies and “women’s writing” as conceptualised by Hélène Cixous in her manifesto The Laugh of the Medusa (1976). The paper analyses the plays J. Bodnárová wrote after 1989. Thematically, these concentrate mainly on violence and cruelty against women in various forms. J. Bodnárová depicts women’s experience in relation to the theme of physicality. She interprets the female body as lived and experienced, capable of constantly reshaping its boundaries and unmasking inner movements. In Bodnárová’s texts, the body is a constructive tool through which the author can approach the misogynistic thinking that encloses women in their bodies. In the context of the phenomenon of “women’s writing,” the theme of empowering women’s “voice” on the basis of artistic creation comes to the fore. Affinities are present with Hélène Cixous’s drama Portrait de Dora (1976, second revised edition 1986) which focuses on the motif of the forms of sexual abuse and trauma women experience that are the results of society’s patriarchal character.

  • Issue Year: 70/2023
  • Issue No: 4
  • Page Range: 442-458
  • Page Count: 16
  • Language: Slovak