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Text in French; abstract in French and English / Observatrice des réalités quotidiennes camerounaises, Calixthe Beyala a publié, en 1987, un roman intitulé C’est le soleil qui m’a brûlée. Dans ce roman, elle montre au lecteur comment la femme, victime de la tradition, utilise, avec l’apport de la modernité, son corps comme moyen pour reconquérir son moi profond, et retrouver sa liberté. En 1994, elle a écrit et publié Assѐze, l’Africaine. Et en 2003, elle a publié Femme nue, femme noire. Après une lecture minutieuse de ces trois livres, le lecteur peut facilement découvrir que Calixthe Beyala place la femme au centre de sa préoccupation littéraire. Et elle examine, dans sa fiction, deux thѐmes: la tradition et la modernité. Qu’entend-elle par tradition et modernité? Comment examine-t-elle ces deux thѐmes dans les ouvrages de notre corpus? Quelles solutions propose-t-elle à la femme, d’une part, pour se libérer du joug de la tradition et de la domination masculine, et d’autre part, pour (re)conquérir son corps, son moi profond et pour son émancipation? / Observer of the daily Cameroonian realities, Calixthe Beyala published, in 1987, a novel entitled C’est le soleil qui m’a brûlée. In this novel, she shows the reader how a woman, victim of tradition, uses her body as means to reconquer herself and to find her freedom. In 1994, she wrote and published Assèze, l’Africane. And in 2003, she published Femme nue, femme noire. After a careful reading of the three novels, the reader can easily discover that Calixthe Beyala places woman in the center of her literary preoccupation. And she examines, in her fiction, two themes, tradition and modernity. What does she mean by tradition and modernity? How does she examine these two themes in the novels of our study? What solutions does she propose to the woman, firstly, to liberate herself from the yoke of tradition and male’s domination, and secondly, to reconquer her body, herself and her emancipation? / Classics and World Languages / M.A. (French)

Thesis (MA (English))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis analyses six novels by different women writers, each of which rewrites an originally androcentric biblical story from a female perspective. These novels are The Red Tent by Anita Diamant, The Garden by Elsie Aidinoff, Leaving Eden by Ann Chamberlin, The Moon under her Feet by Clysta Kinstler, The Wild Girl by Michelle Roberts and Wisdom’s Daughter by India Edghill. By classifying these novels as feminist revisionist fiction, this study considers how they both subvert and revise the biblical narratives they are based on in order to offer readers new and gynocentric alternatives. With the intention of establishing the significance of such an endeavor, the study therefore employs the findings of feminist critique and theology to expose how the Bible, as a sexist text, has inspired, directly or indirectly, many of the patriarchal values that govern Western society and religion. Having established how biblical narratives have promoted and justified visions of women as marginal, subordinate and outside the realm of the sacred, we move on to explore how feminist rewritings of such narratives might function to challenge and transform androcentric ideology, patriarchal myth and phallocentric theology. The aim is to show that the new and different stories constructed within these revisionist novels re-conceptualise and re-imagine women, their place in society and their relation to the divine. Thus, as the title suggests, this thesis ultimately considers how women writers ‘steal’ the original biblical stories and transform them in ways that prove liberating for women. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie tesis analiseer ses romans deur verskillende vroue skrywers - romans wat die oorspronklik androsentriese bybelse stories herskryf vanuit ’n vroulike perspektief. Die romans sluit in The Red Tent deur Anita Diamant, The Garden deur Elsie Aidinoff, Leaving Eden deur Ann Chamberlin, The Moon under her Feet deur Clysta Kinstler, The Wild Girl deur Michelle Roberts en Wisdom’s Daughter deur India Edghill. Deur hierdie romans te klassifiseer as feministiese revisionistiese fiksie, oorweeg hierdie studie hoe hulle die bybelse verhale waarop hulle gebaseer is, beide ondermyn en hersien om sodoende lesers nuwe en ginosentriese alternatiewe te bied. Met die voorneme om die betekenisvolheid van so ’n poging vas te stel, wend hierdie tesis dus die bevindings van feministiese kritiek en -teologie aan om bloot te lê hoe die Bybel, as ‘n seksistiese teks, baie van die patriargale waardes van die Westerse samelewing en godsdiens, direk of indirek, geïnspireer het. Nadat vasgestel is hoe bybelse verhale sienings van vroue as marginaal, ondergeskik en buite die sfeer van heiligheid bevorder en regverdig, beweeg die tesis aan om te ondersoek hoe feministiese herskrywings van sulke verhale, androsentriese ideologie, patriargale mite en fallosentriese teologie uitdaag en herskep. Die doelwit is om te wys dat die nuwe en anderste stories saamgestel in hierdie revisionistiese romans, vroue, hul plek in die samelewing en hul betrekking tot die goddelike, kan heroorweeg en herdink. Dus, soos die titel voorstel, oorweeg hierdie tesis primêr hoe vroue skrywers die oorspronklike bybelse stories ‘steel’ en herskep op maniere wat bevrydend vir vrouens blyk te wees.

Text in French with abstracts in French and English. Translated title in English / La recherche montre Voltaire comme un auteur très connu du « Siècle des Lumières ». Voltaire a pu démontrer la véritable situation de la femme à l’époque. Les romans de Voltaire bien que courts, sont pleins d’esprit et lui ont valu jusqu’à aujourd’hui la plus grande part de sa gloire dans la littérature. Les propres expériences de Voltaire avec les femmes qu’il a rencontrées dans sa vie sont dépeintes dans ses romans. Il a mis l’accent sur l’exploitation des femmes dans les années 1800 à travers ses romans. Il dépeint la sensualité des femmes qui a longtemps été un sujet qu’il aimait exprimer dans ses œuvres. Voltaire critique et ridiculise la sensualité des femmes. Pour comprendre l’’attitude paradoxale de Voltaire envers la femme dans ses œuvres, il est important de connaître les relations qu’il a partagées avec les femmes tout au long de sa vie. Son attitude sceptique est dépeinte dans beaucoup de ses romans. / This research shows Voltaire as a well-known author of the “Enlightenment Age”. Voltaire has been able to demonstrate the true situation of woman at that time. Voltaire’s novels though short are full of spirit and have earned him until today the greater share to his glory in literature. Voltaire’s own experiences with women he met in his life are portrayed in his novels. He emphasized the exploitation of females in the 1800’s through his novels. He portrays the sensuality of women that has long been a subject that he liked to express in his works. Voltaire criticizes and ridicules the sensuality of women. To understand Voltaire’s paradoxical attitude towards woman in his works, it is important to know the relationships he shared with women throughout his life. His skeptical attitude is portrayed in many of his novels. / Classics and World Languages / M.A. (French)

This thesis investigates the prevalence of religious themes in the work of several prominent contemporary women writers—Margaret Atwood, Michèle Roberts, Alice Walker and A.L. Kennedy. Relying on Luce Irigaray’s recent theorisations of the religious and its relationship to feminine subjectivity, this research considers the subversive potential of engaging with religious discourse through literature, and contributes to burgeoning criticism of feminist revisionary writing. The novels analysed in this thesis show, often in violent detail, that the way the religious dimension has been conceptualised and articulated enforces negative views of female sexuality, justifies violence against the body, alienates women from autonomous creative expression and paralyses the development of a subjectivity in the feminine. Rather than looking at women’s religious revision primarily as a means of asserting female authority, as previous studies have done, I argue that these writers, in addition to critiquing patriarchal religion, articulate ways of being and knowing that subvert the binary logic that dominates Western religious discourse. Chapter I contextualises this research in Luce Irigaray’s theories and outlines existing work on feminist revisionist literature. The remaining chapters offer close readings of key novels in light of these theories: Chapter II examines Atwood’s interrogation of oppositional logic in religious discourse through her novel The Handmaid’s Tale. Chapter III explores two novels by Roberts that expose the violence inherent in religious discourse and deconstruct the subjection of the (female) body to the (masculine) Word. Chapters IV and V analyse the fiction of Kennedy and Walker respectively, revealing how their novels confront the religious denigration of feminine sexuality and refigure the connection between eroticism and divinity. Evident in each of these fictional accounts is a forceful critique of religious discourse, as well as an attempt to more closely reconcile foundational religious oppositions between divinity and humanity, flesh and spirit, and body and Word.