Stigma /Stigmata: Misa de Mujer is a five act monodrama which deals with a woman's transformation from a life of compulsive searching for love and acceptance to a life of sovereign self determination. / The monodrama consists of dialogue, prose poetry, and free verse. Dramatic monologue predominates the drama, being the vehicle of expression for the various voices which make up the woman's multi-voiced self: Chorus (representing the social and religious voices, Self (representing the spiritual and creative voice), and She (representing the moral and socially controlled voice). Another voice in the play, that of Maggie, speaks in dialogue and represents the voice of one at the verge of dissolution. Whether prose poetry or free verse, the poems are meant to present metaphors for the struggle and transformation in the woman's life. While the narrative comes to a close in Act V with the healing and unification of the various parts of the SELF/SHE-MAGGIE, the drama is left deliberately open ended so that SHE-MAGGIE's future is not decided in the formulaic "happily ever after" ending. / An introduction explains the philosophical undergirding of the drama and stylistic devices used in the text. / Reading notes explain portmanteau and hypenated words used in the poems. Where applicable, references to scripture, literary works, or background material are documented. / The author offers the monodrama as a work among the ongoing contributions to women's literature. Carol Christ in Diving Deep and Surfacing states that$\rm \vskip5pt without\ \lbrack women's\rbrack\ stories\ there\ is\ no\ articulation\ of\ experience.\cr\vskip.1pt Without\ stories\ a\ woman\ is\ lost\ when\ she\ comes\ to\ make\ important\cr\vskip.1pt decisions\ in\ her\ life.\ She\ does\ not\ learn\ to\ value\ her\ struggles,\ to\cr\vskip.1pt celebrate\ her\ strengths,\ to\ comprehend\ her\ pain.\ Without\ stories\ she\cr\vskip.1pt cannot\ understand\ herself.\ Without\ stories\ she\ is\ alienated\ from\cr\vskip.1pt those\ deeper\ experiences\ of self\ and\ the\ world\ that\ have\ been\ called\cr\vskip.1pt spiritual\ or\ religious.\ She\ is\ closed\ in\ silence.(1)\cr\vskip5pt$ / The play is a documentary of struggle and celebration through which alienation and silence are overcome. It offers the possibility that women can become sovereign and create genuine lives. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 56-07, Section: A, page: 2687. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1995.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_77497 |
| Contributors | Stauf, Gabriele Ulrike., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 137 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
Page generated in 0.0015 seconds