FEMALE REPRESENTATIONS IN CONTEMPORARY ROMANIAN PROSE WRITTEN BY WOMEN: THE EDIBLE WOMAN Cover Image

FEMALE REPRESENTATIONS IN CONTEMPORARY ROMANIAN PROSE WRITTEN BY WOMEN: THE EDIBLE WOMAN
FEMALE REPRESENTATIONS IN CONTEMPORARY ROMANIAN PROSE WRITTEN BY WOMEN: THE EDIBLE WOMAN

Author(s): Adelina Vasile
Subject(s): Literary Texts
Published by: Editura Universităţii Petru Maior
Keywords: feminine identity; food imagery; symbolic cannibalism; power(lessness); loss of identity; patriarchy

Summary/Abstract: This essay attempts to analyze one of the representations of femininity in contemporary novels written by Romanian women writers: the edible woman. Today's fiction is suffused with images of women picturing themselves as edible things destined for male consumption. In order to gain a sense of human connection with their partners, the female characters passively accept to be devoured by men without concern about the loss of their psycho-physical integrity. The female protagonists surrender completely to male domination, control and abuse, defining themselves as victim-type personalities. The image of the consumable woman is a valuable image in which gendered relationships and the mechanisms of power which operate in them can be studied. The paper also makes a comparison with female protagonists in a few contemporary novels written by foreign female writers.

  • Issue Year: 2013
  • Issue No: 14
  • Page Range: 216-224
  • Page Count: 9
  • Language: English
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