The Witch And The Goddess In The Stories Of Isak Dinesen: A Feminist Reading PDF
Preview The Witch And The Goddess In The Stories Of Isak Dinesen: A Feminist Reading
I . t ' ·- ~, ,-,:.'(;~ '. ' .;i:,__. . feminist retldin The sexual and religious radicalism of Isak Dinesen, the extraordinary Baroness Blixen, caught the world un prepared, and the writer was bitterly aware of the restrictions placed on her intelli gence and talents. In this comprehensive feminist survey of Dinesen's fiction, novelist Sara Stambaugh reveals how the restrictions faced by all women became a pervasive theme in Dinesen's work. Stambaugh argues that Dinesen's heroines undermine and subvert male dominance, often exploit ing the very conventions forced upon them. The stories, set in the nineteenth century, prove to be examinations of what Dinesen confronted as a woman in the first half of the twentieth. Stambaugh argues that in characters Dinesen referred to as her "witches," the author celebrated specifically female powers. Dinesen's witches represent her ideal of womanhood - women who are rebellious, yet skilled at traditionally femi nine arts, independent, yet seductive. Free and autonomous, they are emblems of female power. Stambaugh also examines Dinesen's rejection of Christianity, which she saw as exalting male spirit at the ex pense of female flesh. Influenced by the works of both Friedrich Nietzsche and Sir James Frazer, Dinesen evolved her own pantheistic Goddess, a decidedly female deity encompassing both good and evil. Stambaugh's unique study embraces the entirety of Dinesen's work, using textual analysis and history of ideas, and drawing on Dinesen's essays and letters, as well as on the full range of recent Dinesen criticism. The picture of Dinesen that emerges is of a writer whose rejection of social and sexual constraints, presentation of women as figures of power, and alternative vision of a female godhead anticipated important elements of modern feminism. 3c,,r; A... Jc. k .... , ~_ ( L -,I '1 +0J VJ\ ~ ~ v , f '- '1 Q_, p, 1 J(_ b ) j f ) • The Witch and the Goddess in the Stories of Isak Dinesen A Feminist Reading Literature Advisory Boards Challenging the Literary Canon Studies in Modern Literature A. Walton Lit.z, Series Editor Other Titles in This Series Prince1011 Universi1y Consulting Editors Transcending Gender: The Male/Female Joseph Blotner Double in Women's Fiction University of Michigan George Bornstein Joanne Blum University of Michigan .Jackson R. Bryer University of Maryla11d at College Park Ronald Bush California lrrstituce of Tech110/ogy Keith Cushman Unfrersity of North Carolina at Gree11sboro Richard J. Finneran Newcomb College. Tula11e University Daniel Mark Fogel Louisiana Suue University Carolyn G. Heilbrun Columbil, University Paul Mariani Univ;rsiry of Massaclw.,·etts at Amherst Thomas C. Moser Stanford U11iversity Linda Wagner Michigan Su11e U11iversiry Nineteenth-Century Studies Juliet McMaster, Series Edi1or U11ivtrsity of Alberta Consulting Editors Carol Christ University of California at Berkeley James R. Kincaid University ofS 0111hern Califomia Julian Mark els Ohio State University G. B. Tennyson University of California a, Los A11geles Studies in Speculative Fiction Robert Scholes, Series Editor Brown University The Witch and the Goddess in the Stories of Isak Dinesen A Feminist Reading by Sara Stambaugh • ·M·I U Research Press Ann Arbor / Lonoon Copyright © 1988 Sara Stambaugh All rights reserved Produced and distributed by UMI Research Press an imprint of University Microfilms Inc. Ann Arbor, Michigan 48 I0 6 Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Stambaugh, Sara, 1936- The witch and the goddess.. in the stories of Isak Dinesen : a feminist reading / by Sara Stambaugh. p. cm.-(Challenging the literary canon) Bibliography: p. Includes index. ISBN 0-8357-I 884-0 (alk. paper) I. Dinesen, Isak, 1885-1962-Criticism and interpreration. 2. Women in literature. 3. Feminism in literature. I. Title. II. Series. PT8175.B545Z858 1988 839.8'1372-<lc.-19 88-5393 CIP British Library CIP data is available. Contents Preface v11 List of Abbreviations 1x Introduction 1 Entrapment 5 2 Patriarchy and Subversion 19 • 3 Bayaderes and Witches 35 4 The Apotheosis of Woman 59 5 Misogyny 83 Conclusion 109 Notes 113 Bibliography 123 Index 129
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