СЮЖЕТОТВІРНИЙ ПОТЕНЦІАЛ ВЕРБАЛІЗОВАНОЇ ФЕМІННОЇ ГЕНДЕРНОЇ ІДЕНТИЧНОСТІ В РОМАНАХ Е. ОУКЛІ

Abstract

The paper considers the significance of gender identity explication in a plot development of a literary text. Verbal means of feminine identity representation are viewed as elements determining the contents and succession of plot events. The traits of character traditionally ascribed as female are treated as arising from deep-rooted stereotypes and are examined within patterns of postmodern outlook. Feminine identity in the novels under analysis boasts of multiplicity of signifiers where direct nominations, implied semantic components, stylistic devices come out as most effective. The concepts of agency and connectedness serve the matrix within which feminine and masculine characters are treated as bearing stereotyped features. The study of Ann Oakley’s novels “Matilda’s Mistake”, “The Men’s Room”, and “A Proper Holiday” proves that the scope of events and the way of their narration are derived from the socially and culturally approved system of values, beliefs, morals etc. traditionally attributed to women. The impact of postmodern philosophy upon the analysed texts is traced in the transformations of female characters where the elements of agency and connectedness are often interchanged and intertwined. The research results in singling out three types of female personages functioning in A. Oakley’s literary texts: a “liberated” woman free from patriarchal limitations of female self-expression, longing for authority and career success; a “natural” woman deep in her inner world, feelings, sensations, not caring much for her marital or parental obligations; a “traditional” woman bound to family obligations, concerned with childbearing and caregiving, religiously obedient and socially passive. The three types trigger the plot collisions and make the narrative evolve.