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Growing Cold: Postwar American Women Writers and the Novel of Development, 1945-1960, examines how women writers developed, negotiated, and struggled with representing adolescent girl selfhood in the novel of development – also termed the Bildungsroman – during the early postwar era. By examining four women’s Bildungsromans written between 1946-1960 – Carson McCullers’s The Member of the Wedding (1946), Jean Stafford’s The Mountain Lion (1947), Shirley Jackson’s Hangsaman (1951), and Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird (1960) – I show that postwar women writers were actively shaping the genre in a way that would fundamentally shift how adolescent girlhood would be represented in second wave feminist and contemporary female Bildungsromans. By 1960, adolescent girls in women’s literature were far different from where they began in 1945: they were younger, more sexual, and more psychologically complex than the adolescent girl characters earlier in the 20th century. Yet these novels are also racially and sexually problematic, advancing white heteronormative identity at the expense of queer and racially othered characters. In this way, these writers suggest that postwar adolescent development is a process of "growing cold"; it is a process of loss, emptiness, and violence, leading to emotional and social isolation. This project therefore intervenes in postwar American literary studies and women's studies by raising awareness of the importance that postwar women writing played in the development of the contemporary Bildungsroman. / English

<p dir="ltr">In this thesis, I examine three popular modern Japanese female writers—Takahashi Takako (1932-2013), Ogawa Yōko (1962- ), and Murata Sayaka (1979- ), who all debuted after the peak of Japan’s bubble economy in the late 1980s. Focusing on the works of these three authors, I investigate how they deal with the theme of pregnancy, children, fertility, and family structure, and how they are original in the world of Japanese literature. Since they are all women, in terms of feminist context, I also look into how differently they respond to gender issues from the prior generation of female authors.</p><p dir="ltr">In the Introduction, I begin with an examination of how Japanese society has changed fertility and family structure during the lifetime of women writers, which the author of this thesis aims to depict. Through an analysis of themes such as pregnancy, childbearing, fertility, and family dynamics, these authors offer nuanced reflections on the evolving roles and experiences of Japanese women within the context of a rapidly changing society. Despite their unique literary styles, they share a common interest in challenging traditional notions of womanhood and motherhood, often conflicting with societal pressures.</p><p dir="ltr">In Chapter One, the focus is on Takahashi Takako's narratives, which critique the conventional female trajectory in Japan and the societal pressures surrounding parenthood. In Chapter Two, the examination shifts to Ogawa Yōko's portrayal of female protagonists navigating societal expectations and rejecting traditional paths to womanhood and pregnancy. Finally, Chapter Three delves into Murata Sayaka's exploration of themes related to nonconformity, gender roles, marriage, and the evolving dynamics of Japanese society.</p><p dir="ltr">By analyzing these authors' works, this thesis contributes to a deeper understanding of Japanese women's experiences and societal dynamics, offering insights into contemporary issues of gender, identity, and autonomy in Japan.</p>

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / Until recently little attention has been paid to Latin American women writers and even less to those of them who are Jewish. This dissertation is an attempt to remedy that situation through the study of four contemporary Argentine Jewish women writers. My introduction explores theoretical issues relating to the specificity of both Jewish and women's writing. Chapter One considers the work of Alejandra Pizarnik (1936-1972). Although a Jew by birth, she shows very little overt Jewish influence in her work because she did not acknowledge her heritage. However, her background appears obliquely throughout her writing, for example, in many biblical references. Pizarnik's perspective on women is equally elusive, but nonetheless can be traced in her treatment of love and loss. Ana Maria Shua (1951- ), whose writing is the subject of the second chapter, is openly Jewish and unavowedly feminist. I study those aspects of her work that can be considered Jewish, such as her interest in the immigrant experience and her recounting of traditional Jewish folk tales. Although Shua does not admit to being a feminist, her books portray female dominance over men, particularly in El marido argentino promedio. Chapter Three centers on the writings of Manuela Fingueret (1945- ). Traditional customs, the Yiddish language and biblical references appear in her fiction and poetry. She depicts her female characters as strong and independent. Her poetry contains an element of eroticism, which she presents from a distinctively feminine perspective. The final chapter studies the work of Alicia Steimberg (1933- ). Steimberg's characters indicate contradictory feelings about being Jewish. Steimberg, like Shua, deals with the Jewish immigrant experience; she focuses on women, many of whom work outside the home. Steimberg's treatment of eroticism is idiosyncratically straightforward in its emphases. The dissertation's epilogue summarizes its conclusions and points the way for additional work to be done on Latin-American Jewish women writers. / 2999-01-01

This thesis explores the theme of freedom in Goliarda Sapienza's narrative, focusing in particular on three works: Lettera aperta (1967), L'arte della gioia (1998, posthumous) and Io, Jean Gabin (2010, posthumous). The analysis concentrates on the interplay between body and power in processes of identity formation; the main aspects taken into consideration are gender, sexuality and political ideology, with specific attention to the power involved in human relationships. This thesis comprises four chapters. The first three develop a close textual analysis of individual works, each one progressing from the exploration of the internal composition of the self to the analysis of identity in its interpersonal and socio-political dimension. The fourth chapter engages with a comparative analysis of the same works’ narrative structures, accounting for the role of writing in the evolution of Sapienza’s narrative. I identify the pivotal tension of Sapienza's works in the ideal of freedom, and propose to define her narrative as Epicurean and anarchic, characteristics that place it at the intersection of post-structuralist and Marxist-feminist discourses. Overall, I argue in favour of Sapienza's originality and significance within the context of 20^th-century Italian literature. I suggest an affinity between Sapienza's works and the literary legacy of Pirandello and Svevo, as well as certain tenets of postmodern fiction, but also a significant difference, concerning the presence of a tension towards agency and subjectivity, extraneous to the trajectory of the modern and postmodern subject. From a position of marginality and ex-centricity, Sapienza gives voice to a radical aspiration to individual and social transformation, in which writing and literary communication are granted a central role. Her works trace the parable of a strenuous deconstruction of oppressive norms and structures, aimed at retrieving a space of powerful bodily desire, which constitutes the foundation of the process of becoming a subject.

In my thesis I deal with phenomenon of the so-called new woman in the literature of Finland and China in the first three decades of the 20th century. This phenomenon is presented on the example of the life and literary works of three Chinese (Ding Ling, Ling Shuhua, Bing Xin) and three Finnish (Aino Kallas, Maria Jotuni, L. Onerva) women writers, which seem to be the most representative. In the case of each of the above-mentioned writers I first briefly depict her life, which possibly could have influenced her writings, and then I analyze the selected literary works, in which the topic of new woman is most pronounced. I strive for setting the literary works analyzed into the concrete social, historical and cultural context of the development in both countries, and in the final part of the thesis I attempt at comparison of the similarities and differences between the topics of Chinese women writers on the one hand and Finish on the other. I then explain reasons for the similarities and differences found with regard to the social and cultural situation in China and Finland. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

The author covers issues of gender and Iranian national identity as reflected in Iran’s first published woman novelist, Simin Daneshvar. Her novel, Savushun, is the first novel to be published by an Iranianwoman in 1969. The novel depicts Iran at the start of the country’s governmental factions in 1941 when Reza Shah Pahlavi overthrew years of Iranian dynasty and established a monarchy. This thesis explores how the novel is a vital part of Iran’s historical literature as well as essential to the present day discussion of gender and politics, especially for women within the patriarchal paradigm.