DESPERATELY SEEKING THE SELF: GENDER, AGE, AND IDENTITY IN TILLIE OLSEN'S TELL ME A RIDDLE AND MICHELLE HERMAN'S MISSING
Using the feminist concept of the resisting reader, this article attempts to show how literary gerontology can profit from the understanding that individual identity , both in literature and society, is culturally constructed and tied to race, class, gender, and age. As feminist theory distinguishes...
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Published in | Educational gerontology Vol. 25; no. 2; pp. 129 - 141 |
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Main Author | |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
Informa UK Ltd
01.03.1999
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Subjects | |
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Abstract | Using the feminist concept of the resisting reader, this article attempts to show how literary gerontology can profit from the understanding that individual identity , both in literature and society, is culturally constructed and tied to race, class, gender, and age. As feminist theory distinguishes between sex and gender, so should a distinction be made between chronological age and the cultural stereotypes associated with old people, which would help escape the confining binary opposition of young and old. Both Tillie Olsen's short story, Tell Me a Riddle and Michelle Herman's novel Missing- written almost 30 years apart - show the necessary quest for defining one's self in old age. In my reading of the texts, I see the main protagonists, Eva and Rivke, reconstructing their identities by trying to work through conflicts which individuals are unable or unwilling to repress. This construction of their individual identity takes place against the odds of societal pressure to conform to a status of old and female. Both texts show that a repudiation of stereotypical notions of women's role in society as mothers and grandmothers questions the use of chronological age as a basis for identity. This leads to a definition of self that is not based on a gender - or age - defined position within the narrow social structures, but which allows the reader to reclaim women in a position of authority who can be seen shaping their own, individual identities. |
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AbstractList | Using the feminist concept of the resisting reader, this article attempts to show how literary gerontology can profit from the understanding that individual identity , both in literature and society, is culturally constructed and tied to race, class, gender, and age. As feminist theory distinguishes between sex and gender, so should a distinction be made between chronological age and the cultural stereotypes associated with old people, which would help escape the confining binary opposition of young and old. Both Tillie Olsen's short story, Tell Me a Riddle and Michelle Herman's novel Missing- written almost 30 years apart - show the necessary quest for defining one's self in old age. In my reading of the texts, I see the main protagonists, Eva and Rivke, reconstructing their identities by trying to work through conflicts which individuals are unable or unwilling to repress. This construction of their individual identity takes place against the odds of societal pressure to conform to a status of old and female. Both texts show that a repudiation of stereotypical notions of women's role in society as mothers and grandmothers questions the use of chronological age as a basis for identity. This leads to a definition of self that is not based on a gender - or age - defined position within the narrow social structures, but which allows the reader to reclaim women in a position of authority who can be seen shaping their own, individual identities. Using feminist theory, critical reading of novels by Olsen and Herman uncovers a process of constructing identity in the face of social pressures regarding gender. Repudiation of stereotypes leads to definition of the self not based on gender- or age-defined positions. (SK) |
Author | Maierhofer, Roberta |
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References | Gullette M. M. (CIT0004) 1988 Herman M. (CIT0005) 1990 CIT0010 Rosenfeldt D. S. (CIT0007) 1994; 2 CIT0001 Cole T. R. (CIT0002) 1992 Woodward K. (CIT0009) 1991 Olsen T. L. (CIT0006) 1956 Waxman B. F. (CIT0008) 1990 Fetterley J. (CIT0003) 1977 |
References_xml | – ident: CIT0001 – volume-title: The journey of life. A cultural history of aging in America year: 1992 ident: CIT0002 contributor: fullname: Cole T. R. – volume-title: Aging and its discontents: Freud and other fictions year: 1991 ident: CIT0009 contributor: fullname: Woodward K. – volume: 2 start-page: 2203 volume-title: The Heath anthology of American literature year: 1994 ident: CIT0007 contributor: fullname: Rosenfeldt D. S. – ident: CIT0010 doi: 10.1016/0890-4065(90)90029-8 – volume-title: Tell me a riddle year: 1956 ident: CIT0006 contributor: fullname: Olsen T. L. – volume-title: The resisting reader: A feminist approach to American fiction year: 1977 ident: CIT0003 contributor: fullname: Fetterley J. – volume-title: Safe at last in the middle years: The invention of the midlife progress novel year: 1988 ident: CIT0004 contributor: fullname: Gullette M. M. – volume-title: From the hearth to the open road year: 1990 ident: CIT0008 contributor: fullname: Waxman B. F. – volume-title: Missing year: 1990 ident: CIT0005 contributor: fullname: Herman M. |
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Snippet | Using the feminist concept of the resisting reader, this article attempts to show how literary gerontology can profit from the understanding that individual... Using feminist theory, critical reading of novels by Olsen and Herman uncovers a process of constructing identity in the face of social pressures regarding... |
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Title | DESPERATELY SEEKING THE SELF: GENDER, AGE, AND IDENTITY IN TILLIE OLSEN'S TELL ME A RIDDLE AND MICHELLE HERMAN'S MISSING |
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