Debriefing the Satanic Gyres of Patriarchy: A Bengali Gynocritic and Her Daughters
Debriefing the Satanic Gyres of Patriarchy: A Bengali Gynocritic and Her Daughters

Summary/Abstract: The language employed by women authors bear a ‘difference’ guaranteed by the author’s femaleness. This contributes towards the development of the female literary tradition as a challenge to the male tradition. Voicing her daughters through her short stories ‘Mira’s Madness’, ‘Distress’, ‘Abuse’, and ‘Rage’, Sanjukta Dasgupta, a Bengali gynocritic, explores women’s experiences of trauma, frustration and fears imposed upon them through several constraints of the society. Dasgupta’s short stories contribute towards women’s writing and female creativity, transcending the various historical boundaries. It is a result of her intense observation of the dynamics of our society where women emerge as ‘the second sex’. This essay will investigate the unheard chronicles of the women of the society, a story that never makes it to the headlines. It will also vindicate how women can understand other women’s predicament and play an important role to assist them in need. Mira, Suchandra, Preetilata, Malati, and Alo, like Dasgupta’s other women protagonists, negate the androcentric power structures of society, and expose them. Permeated with the spirit of creation Sanjukta Dasgupta’s short stories interrogate women’s caged freedom emphasizing the need of liberty for women, as evident through her Lakshmi Unbound, a response and a challenge to patriarchy.

• Details
• Contents