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Authors :
Bjerring-Hansen, Jens
Nielsen, Amanda Holm
Bjerring-Hansen, Jens
Nielsen, Amanda Holm
Publication Year :
2022

Abstract

In this Masters’ thesis I examine how the epistolary novel form can shed light on female experience in Karin Michaëlis’s Den farlige alder (The Dangerous Age) (1910). The novel and Michaëlis herself was well-known in 1910s but is now almost forgotten, even though Den farlige alder sparked controversy and was considered scandalous at the time, mainly because it suggested, that women possessed a sexual desire beyond the menopause. To put the examination into perspective I have involved the somewhat different epistolary novel Kvindehjerter (Female Hearts) (1910) by Betty Nansen and Karin Michaëlis. Throughout history the letter has been associated with the feminine and with sensitivity. To investigate this, I have applied an écriture féminine approach to the analysis, focusing on Hélène Cixous and her concept of the metaphor as an exposer of other female positions in the text. Because the great female experiences in Den farlige alder is about mature desire, I have applied Judith Butlers theory about desire as identity-forming, which among other things illustrate the sexual and ageing double standards among the sexes around 1910. By letting mature desire frame the female characters in both Den farlige alder og Kvindehjerter, it contributes to the exposure of the female experiences, because the social stigma evolving it mainly is a female experience. By drawing on epistolary theory by Elizabeth J. MacArthur and Bertil Romberg among others through the examination of my case, I conclude, that the epistolary form in collaboration with diary records gives the female novel characters the opportunity to express their experiences (almost) freely because of the privacy of the genre and thus avoiding condemnation from the society and especially the men. Letters often contain everyday trifles and confessions, and in exactly these elements the experiences of the characters can be uncovered. At the same time the dialog and “self conversation”, which letters and diaries

Details

Database :
OAIster
Notes :
62 pages, application/pdf, Danish
Publication Type :
Electronic Resource
Accession number :
edsoai.on1340992500
Document Type :
Electronic Resource