No Cover Image

E-Thesis 408 views 128 downloads

The child and the spirit: Archetypal patterns in New Woman fiction. / Mei-Fang Chang

Swansea University Author: Mei-Fang Chang

Abstract

This thesis offers a Jungian-inflected reading of three key New Woman novels: Mona Caird's The Daughters of Danaus (1894), Sarah Grand's The Beth Book (1897), and Olive Schreiner's From Man to Man (1926). By examining two archetypal images---the Child and the Spirit---not as psycholog...

Full description

Published: 2007
Institution: Swansea University
Degree level: Doctoral
Degree name: Ph.D
URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa42231
first_indexed 2018-08-02T18:54:12Z
last_indexed 2018-08-03T10:09:35Z
id cronfa42231
recordtype RisThesis
fullrecord <?xml version="1.0"?><rfc1807><datestamp>2018-08-02T16:24:28.5109848</datestamp><bib-version>v2</bib-version><id>42231</id><entry>2018-08-02</entry><title>The child and the spirit: Archetypal patterns in New Woman fiction.</title><swanseaauthors><author><sid>6498d25ac83f0f690366a8aec4d3f9cc</sid><ORCID>NULL</ORCID><firstname>Mei-Fang</firstname><surname>Chang</surname><name>Mei-Fang Chang</name><active>true</active><ethesisStudent>true</ethesisStudent></author></swanseaauthors><date>2018-08-02</date><abstract>This thesis offers a Jungian-inflected reading of three key New Woman novels: Mona Caird's The Daughters of Danaus (1894), Sarah Grand's The Beth Book (1897), and Olive Schreiner's From Man to Man (1926). By examining two archetypal images---the Child and the Spirit---not as psychological entities but as symbolic forms in the socio-cultural context of the fin de siecle, I explore the ways in which feminist New Woman writers seek to present women artists' collective experience and the extent to which their work revises the dominant discourses of female subjection and sacrifice. Part I is engaged with the Child Archetype with a focus first on the Abandoned Child, where I investigate sisterless children through a combined discourse of sisterhood and trickster. In Chapter 1, I add a discussion of Caird's maternal theory and a mythic reading to examine motherless children. In Chapter 2, I include a study of a loverless child to cast light on the conventional ideology of woman's purity. In the second section of this Part, where Chapter 3 is located, I scrutinize the ways in which Grand portrays the Nature Child in the Romantic and Transcendental fashions, the ethics of which, I argue, anticipate today's ecofeminism. Part II deals with the Spirit Archetype in different manifestations (the Wise Old Man in Chapter 4, the Romantic Knight in Chapter 5, and the Platonic Lover in Chapter 6), drawing attention to gender-power politics in relation to the New Man and the New Woman by adopting different approaches (revised Jungian, quasi-Bakhtinian Camivalesque, and narratology). Shifting signifiers, the Child and the Spirit archetypes, I argue, are New Woman writers' strategic vehicles to (con)textualize women's collective concerns. This act of female "unconsciousness-raising" caused a sensation at the time and can now serve to better our understanding of the diversity and discursiveness of the New Woman movement.</abstract><type>E-Thesis</type><journal/><journalNumber></journalNumber><paginationStart/><paginationEnd/><publisher/><placeOfPublication/><isbnPrint/><issnPrint/><issnElectronic/><keywords>British &amp;amp; Irish literature.</keywords><publishedDay>31</publishedDay><publishedMonth>12</publishedMonth><publishedYear>2007</publishedYear><publishedDate>2007-12-31</publishedDate><doi/><url/><notes/><college>COLLEGE NANME</college><department>English Language and Applied Linguistics</department><CollegeCode>COLLEGE CODE</CollegeCode><institution>Swansea University</institution><degreelevel>Doctoral</degreelevel><degreename>Ph.D</degreename><apcterm/><lastEdited>2018-08-02T16:24:28.5109848</lastEdited><Created>2018-08-02T16:24:28.5109848</Created><path><level id="1">Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences</level><level id="2">School of Culture and Communication - English Language, Tesol, Applied Linguistics</level></path><authors><author><firstname>Mei-Fang</firstname><surname>Chang</surname><orcid>NULL</orcid><order>1</order></author></authors><documents><document><filename>0042231-02082018162438.pdf</filename><originalFilename>10797933.pdf</originalFilename><uploaded>2018-08-02T16:24:38.3400000</uploaded><type>Output</type><contentLength>18016751</contentLength><contentType>application/pdf</contentType><version>E-Thesis</version><cronfaStatus>true</cronfaStatus><embargoDate>2018-08-02T16:24:38.3400000</embargoDate><copyrightCorrect>false</copyrightCorrect></document></documents><OutputDurs/></rfc1807>
spelling 2018-08-02T16:24:28.5109848 v2 42231 2018-08-02 The child and the spirit: Archetypal patterns in New Woman fiction. 6498d25ac83f0f690366a8aec4d3f9cc NULL Mei-Fang Chang Mei-Fang Chang true true 2018-08-02 This thesis offers a Jungian-inflected reading of three key New Woman novels: Mona Caird's The Daughters of Danaus (1894), Sarah Grand's The Beth Book (1897), and Olive Schreiner's From Man to Man (1926). By examining two archetypal images---the Child and the Spirit---not as psychological entities but as symbolic forms in the socio-cultural context of the fin de siecle, I explore the ways in which feminist New Woman writers seek to present women artists' collective experience and the extent to which their work revises the dominant discourses of female subjection and sacrifice. Part I is engaged with the Child Archetype with a focus first on the Abandoned Child, where I investigate sisterless children through a combined discourse of sisterhood and trickster. In Chapter 1, I add a discussion of Caird's maternal theory and a mythic reading to examine motherless children. In Chapter 2, I include a study of a loverless child to cast light on the conventional ideology of woman's purity. In the second section of this Part, where Chapter 3 is located, I scrutinize the ways in which Grand portrays the Nature Child in the Romantic and Transcendental fashions, the ethics of which, I argue, anticipate today's ecofeminism. Part II deals with the Spirit Archetype in different manifestations (the Wise Old Man in Chapter 4, the Romantic Knight in Chapter 5, and the Platonic Lover in Chapter 6), drawing attention to gender-power politics in relation to the New Man and the New Woman by adopting different approaches (revised Jungian, quasi-Bakhtinian Camivalesque, and narratology). Shifting signifiers, the Child and the Spirit archetypes, I argue, are New Woman writers' strategic vehicles to (con)textualize women's collective concerns. This act of female "unconsciousness-raising" caused a sensation at the time and can now serve to better our understanding of the diversity and discursiveness of the New Woman movement. E-Thesis British &amp; Irish literature. 31 12 2007 2007-12-31 COLLEGE NANME English Language and Applied Linguistics COLLEGE CODE Swansea University Doctoral Ph.D 2018-08-02T16:24:28.5109848 2018-08-02T16:24:28.5109848 Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences School of Culture and Communication - English Language, Tesol, Applied Linguistics Mei-Fang Chang NULL 1 0042231-02082018162438.pdf 10797933.pdf 2018-08-02T16:24:38.3400000 Output 18016751 application/pdf E-Thesis true 2018-08-02T16:24:38.3400000 false
title The child and the spirit: Archetypal patterns in New Woman fiction.
spellingShingle The child and the spirit: Archetypal patterns in New Woman fiction.
Mei-Fang Chang
title_short The child and the spirit: Archetypal patterns in New Woman fiction.
title_full The child and the spirit: Archetypal patterns in New Woman fiction.
title_fullStr The child and the spirit: Archetypal patterns in New Woman fiction.
title_full_unstemmed The child and the spirit: Archetypal patterns in New Woman fiction.
title_sort The child and the spirit: Archetypal patterns in New Woman fiction.
author_id_str_mv 6498d25ac83f0f690366a8aec4d3f9cc
author_id_fullname_str_mv 6498d25ac83f0f690366a8aec4d3f9cc_***_Mei-Fang Chang
author Mei-Fang Chang
author2 Mei-Fang Chang
format E-Thesis
publishDate 2007
institution Swansea University
college_str Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
hierarchytype
hierarchy_top_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
department_str School of Culture and Communication - English Language, Tesol, Applied Linguistics{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences{{{_:::_}}}School of Culture and Communication - English Language, Tesol, Applied Linguistics
document_store_str 1
active_str 0
description This thesis offers a Jungian-inflected reading of three key New Woman novels: Mona Caird's The Daughters of Danaus (1894), Sarah Grand's The Beth Book (1897), and Olive Schreiner's From Man to Man (1926). By examining two archetypal images---the Child and the Spirit---not as psychological entities but as symbolic forms in the socio-cultural context of the fin de siecle, I explore the ways in which feminist New Woman writers seek to present women artists' collective experience and the extent to which their work revises the dominant discourses of female subjection and sacrifice. Part I is engaged with the Child Archetype with a focus first on the Abandoned Child, where I investigate sisterless children through a combined discourse of sisterhood and trickster. In Chapter 1, I add a discussion of Caird's maternal theory and a mythic reading to examine motherless children. In Chapter 2, I include a study of a loverless child to cast light on the conventional ideology of woman's purity. In the second section of this Part, where Chapter 3 is located, I scrutinize the ways in which Grand portrays the Nature Child in the Romantic and Transcendental fashions, the ethics of which, I argue, anticipate today's ecofeminism. Part II deals with the Spirit Archetype in different manifestations (the Wise Old Man in Chapter 4, the Romantic Knight in Chapter 5, and the Platonic Lover in Chapter 6), drawing attention to gender-power politics in relation to the New Man and the New Woman by adopting different approaches (revised Jungian, quasi-Bakhtinian Camivalesque, and narratology). Shifting signifiers, the Child and the Spirit archetypes, I argue, are New Woman writers' strategic vehicles to (con)textualize women's collective concerns. This act of female "unconsciousness-raising" caused a sensation at the time and can now serve to better our understanding of the diversity and discursiveness of the New Woman movement.
published_date 2007-12-31T19:39:25Z
_version_ 1822069794819538944
score 11.110949

Similar Items