Julia Kristeva and the History of Bulgarian Women’s Literature: Narratives of Transposition
Julia Kristeva and the History of Bulgarian Women’s Literature: Narratives of Transposition

Author(s): Miglena Nikolchina
Subject(s): Gender Studies, Bulgarian Literature
Published by: Editura Universităţii din Bucureşti
Keywords: transposition; Elisaveta Bagriana; Dora Gabe; Bulgarian singing; mother;
Summary/Abstract: In what follows I will try to outline the specific characteristics that defined and established Bulgarian w omen’s literary history in the light of Julia Kristeva’s theoretical preoccupations. I believe that the success of the Bulgarian literary ‘mothers ’ Dora Gabe (1886-1983) and Elisaveta Bagriana (1893-1991) as producers of women’s literary history is a vital element of some of Kristeva’s major theoretical concerns. From this point of view, Kristeva is a direct descendent (‘the faithful daughter’, to quote ‘Descendent’, one of Bagriana’s poems) - in a different language and in a different form of discourse - o f her Bulgarian mothers. And yet, my reading of Gabe and Bagriana is Kristevan - and hence makes them the product rather than the antecedent of Kristeva. This clearly suggests a circularity, which I will resolve here by simply surrendering temporal considerations. I will turn instead to the narrative (the unfolding in time) o f a spatial operation that has been described by Kristeva as transposition.

• Details
• Contents