Analyzing Patriarchal Myths toward Feminism
HOW TO PUT NEW WINE IN OLD BOTTLES
"Reading is just as creative an activity as writing and most intellectual development depends upon new readings of old texts. I am all for putting new wine in old bottles, especially if the pressure of the new wine makes the bottles explode" A. Carter
Angela Carter’s production could be located in the bosom of English writers generation influenced by the second feminism and also interested on revealing in their works genre inequality. The re-writing of myths is often one of the most successful ways of recognition by the hand of a writer and a poet like Michèle Roberts, Sara Maitland, Michelle Wandor and Angela Carter. Carter is characterized by her concerning about unmasking mythical representations which had affected decisively the construction of genre as well as affected women life. In the following paper I will analyse the use of patriarchal myths towards feminism through the re-writing of Eve’s myth and the Paradise Lost at Carte’s works The Magic Toyshop (1969) and The Passion of New Eve (1977).
Taking into account the thesis written by Susanne Schmid about myth’s use by Carter, we will start with the premise that she performs a rewriting that changes the characters of her works until the complete striking of the sacred role. This is done as of the de-familiarization that the individuals and objects are exposed at, as well as the alteration of their living circumstances that is characters are taken apart from their daily reality as we will see in the future lines. In The Magic Toyshop, Eve is represented by the main character Melanie, a girl who lost her parents and gets with difficulty into her adolescence; The Passion of New Eve is a dystopic fantasy where Evelyn, a transsexual leaves apart reality. Through these works Carter recreates and gives examples of the debate that in the 70’s confrontation between rational feminists and cultural feminists: the revaluation of the couple woman/nature.
Susanne Schmid identifies
"Reading is just as creative an activity as writing and most intellectual development depends upon new readings of old texts. I am all for putting new wine in old bottles, especially if the pressure of the new wine makes the bottles explode" A. Carter
Angela Carter’s production could be located in the bosom of English writers generation influenced by the second feminism and also interested on revealing in their works genre inequality. The re-writing of myths is often one of the most successful ways of recognition by the hand of a writer and a poet like Michèle Roberts, Sara Maitland, Michelle Wandor and Angela Carter. Carter is characterized by her concerning about unmasking mythical representations which had affected decisively the construction of genre as well as affected women life. In the following paper I will analyse the use of patriarchal myths towards feminism through the re-writing of Eve’s myth and the Paradise Lost at Carte’s works The Magic Toyshop (1969) and The Passion of New Eve (1977).
Taking into account the thesis written by Susanne Schmid about myth’s use by Carter, we will start with the premise that she performs a rewriting that changes the characters of her works until the complete striking of the sacred role. This is done as of the de-familiarization that the individuals and objects are exposed at, as well as the alteration of their living circumstances that is characters are taken apart from their daily reality as we will see in the future lines. In The Magic Toyshop, Eve is represented by the main character Melanie, a girl who lost her parents and gets with difficulty into her adolescence; The Passion of New Eve is a dystopic fantasy where Evelyn, a transsexual leaves apart reality. Through these works Carter recreates and gives examples of the debate that in the 70’s confrontation between rational feminists and cultural feminists: the revaluation of the couple woman/nature.
Susanne Schmid identifies
References: Carter, Angela. 1969. The Magic Toyshop. London. Virago. 1977 [ 1 ]. Carter, Angela. 1983. “Notes from the front line”. Wandor, 69-77 [ 2 ] [ 5 ]. Carter, Angela. 1969. The Magic Toyshop. London. Virago. 200 [ 6 ] [ 7 ]. Carter, Angela. 1977. The Passion of New Eve. London. Virago. 50 [ 8 ]