Original scientific paper

The (Im)possibility of Women’s Bildungsroman

Ljiljana Ina Gjurgjan

Abstract

The paper argues that the mode in which becoming a woman is inscribed in the
cultural imaginary is incompatible with the ideologematics of the genre of Bildungsroman.
Starting with V. Woolf’s novel To the Lighthouse, the article discusses canonic
literary texts such as “The Bell Jar” and „The Djinn in Nightingale’s Eye“ in order to
show that the abortive pattern of teleological narration is inherent to the representation
of the feminine in the Western culture. Even the concept of écriture féminine is
ambivalent, since it defines female writing as coming from the body, thus reinforcing
the stereotype of woman’s dominion being nature, and male culture. Though
they represent an important breakthrough in the portrayal of female lives and are
subversive to the binary stereotypes of femininity/masculinity, recent female narratives
nonetheless testify to the impossibility of the (re)possession of the metaphysical
space of representation. Therefore, they have been compartmentalised in the niche
of women’s writing, as in their self-definition culturally dominant narratives are still
depended on the traditonal (patriarchal) conceptualization of femininity.

Keywords

Bildungroman; écriture féminine; re-naming; V. Woolf; S. Plath; A. S. Byatt

Hrčak ID:

101806

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/101806

Publication date:

2.5.2012.

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