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Narrative Space and Transtextual Dialogues in Emma Donoghue’s 'Kissing the Witch'

Year 2024, Volume: 41 Issue: 1, 66 - 75, 28.06.2024
https://doi.org/10.32600/huefd.1212629

Abstract

This article aims to introduce a critical reading of the narrative space of Kissing the Witch: Old Tales in New Skins by the Irish author Emma Donoghue. In this collection of rewritten fairy tales, Donoghue not only thematically reimagines the popular classical fairy tales penned by Grimms, Beaumont, Perrault and Andersen, she also makes the protagonist/narrator of each story the narratee of the next one, allowing for a dialogue between diverse figures from oral and written tradition across cultures. The narrative strategy and framing technique deployed by Donoghue enables a transtextual space of gathering where previously objectified and focalized female characters of canonical tales engage in dialogue through storytelling. The possibilities offered by this transtextual agency of rewriting will be explored from a narratological perspective, paying particular attention to gender-informed politics of reimagining canonical narratives. As examples of “rewriting as displacement”, according to Doležel’s categorization, the tales in Kissing the Witch create story-worlds that affirm transgression and flow against all forms of stabilizing and restricting mechanisms of normativity. Talking back to the canon and literary convention through first-person narratives of classical fairy tale characters, the collection offers an unsettling example of the liberating potential of storytelling against ossified and ossifying power mechanisms.

References

  • Bacchilega, C. (2013). Fairy tales transformed? Twenty-first century adaptations and the politics of wonder. Wayne State University Press.
  • Benjamin, W. (2007). The Storyteller: Reflections on the Works of Nikolai Leskov. In H. Arendt (Ed.) (H. Zohn, Trans.), Essays and reflections (pp. 83-109). Schocken Books.
  • Bonet, D. R. (2022). Feminist rewritings of fairy tales in Ireland: A case study of Deirdre Sullivan. Études irlandaises, 47(2), 41-55. https://doi.org/10.4000/etudesirlandaises.13253
  • Byatt, A. S. (2002). On histories and stories: Selected essays. Harvard University Press.
  • Carter, A. (1997). Shaking a leg. Chatto and Vindus.
  • Crowley, K and Pennington, J. (2010). Feminist frauds on the fairies?: Didacticism and liberation in recent retellings of “Cinderella”. Marvels and Tales, 24(2), 297-313.
  • Dickens, C. (1853). Frauds on the fairies. Household Words, 8, 97-100, https://www.djo.org.uk/household-words/volume-viii/ (Accessed 2 September 2022).
  • Doležel, L. (1998). Heterocosmica: fiction and possible worlds. The John Hopkins University Press.
  • Donoghue, E. (1997). Kissing the witch: Old tales in new skins. Joanna Cotler Books, Harper Collins.
  • Eagleton, T. (2013). How to read literature. Yale University Press.
  • Eco, U. (1979). The role of the reader: Explorations in the semiotics of texts. Indiana University Press.
  • Fetterley, J. (1978). The resisting reader: A feminist approach to American fiction. Indiana University Press.
  • Fludernik, M. (2009). An introduction to narratology. Routledge.
  • Genette, G. (1992). The architext: An introduction (J. E. Lewin, Trans.). University of California Press.
  • Gramsci, A. (2000). The Gramsci reader: Selected writings 1916-1935 (D. Forgacs, Ed.). New York University Press.
  • Harries, E. W. (2001). Twice upon a time: Women writers and the history of the fairy tale. New Jersey: Princeton University Press.
  • Hennard Dutheil de la Rochère, M. (2009). Queering the fairy tale canon: Emma Donoghue’s Kissing the Witch. In S. R. Bobby (Ed.), Fairy tales reimagined: Essays on new retellings (pp. 13–30). McFarland & Company, Inc.
  • Lau, K. J. (2008). Erotic infidelities: Angela Carter’s Wolf Trilogy. Marvels and Tales, 22(1), 77-94.
  • Nolte-Odhiambo, C. (2018). Unhoming the child: Queer paths and precarious futures in Kissing the Witch. Pacific Coast Philology, 53(2), 239-250.
  • Orme, J. (2010). Mouth to mouth: Queer desires in Emma Donoghue’s Kissing the Witch. Marvels and Tales, 24(1), 116-130.
  • Rich, A. (1972). When we dead awaken: Women’s writing as re-vision. College English, 34(1), 18-30.
  • Riggs, A. (2016). Multiple metamorphoses, or “New Skins” for an Ood tale: Emma Donoghue’s Queer Cinderella in translation. In M. H. D. de la Rochère et. al. (Eds.), Cinderella across cultures: New directions and interdisciplinary perspectives (pp. 180-196). Wayne State University Press.
  • Sanders, J. (2006). Adaptation and appropriation. Routledge.
  • Schanoes, V. L. (2014). Fairy tales, myth, and psychoanalytic theory: Feminism and retelling the tale. Ashgate.
  • Walker, N. A. (1995). The disobedient writer: Women and narrative tradition. University of Texas Press.
  • Zipes, J. (2002). Breaking the magic spell: Radical theories of folk and fairy tales. The University Press of Kentucky.
  • Zipes, J. (2006). Fairy tales and the art of subversion. Routledge.
  • Zipes, J. (2011). The meaning of fairy tale within the evolution of culture. Marvels and Tales, 25(2), 221-243.

Emma Donoghue’nun 'Kissing the Witch' adlı Eserinde Anlatı Uzamı ve Metinleraşkın Diyaloglar

Year 2024, Volume: 41 Issue: 1, 66 - 75, 28.06.2024
https://doi.org/10.32600/huefd.1212629

Abstract

Bu makale İrlandalı yazar Emma Donoghue’nun Kissing the Witch: Old Tales in New Skins adlı eserinin anlatı uzamının eleştirel bir okumasını sunmayı amaçlar. Donoghue, masalların yeniden yazımlarını bir araya getirdiği bu kitapta, Grimms, Beaumont, Perrault ve Andersen gibi yazarların kaleme aldığı popüler klasik masalları tematik olarak yeniden kurgulamakla kalmayıp, bir masalın anlatıcısını bir sonraki masalın dinleyicisi/alımlayıcısı yaparak zamanlar ve kültürlerarası bir diyalog uzamı oluşturur. Yazarın kullandığı bu anlatı çerçevesi ve yöntemi sayesinde, kanonik masalların nesneleştirilen ve fokalize edilen kadın karakterleri metinleraşkın bir uzamda bir araya gelirler ve hikâye anlatıcılığı yoluyla bir diyalog evreni oluştururlar. Yeniden yazımın bu mentinleraşkın pratiğinin sunduğu olanaklar, kanonik anlatıların toplumsal cinsiyet politikalarına referansla yeniden kurulması meselesi odağa alınarak, anlatıbilimsel bir perspektiften ele alınacaktır. Doležel’in sınıflandırmasına göre “yer değiştirme/yerinden ayrılma/yerinden edilme” olarak yeniden yazıma örnek teşkil eden Kissing the Witch, normatifliğin sabitleyen ve sınırlandıran mekanizmasına karşı sınır aşımını/ihlalini ve akışı onaylayan hikaye evrenleri kurar. Klasik masalların kahramanlarının birinci tekil anlatı yoluyla kanona ve edebi geleneğe seslenmesi, hikaye anlatıcılığı pratiğinin kemikleşen ve kemikleştiren güç/iktidar mekanizmalarına karşı özgürleştiren bir potansiyel taşıdığını da ortaya koyar.

References

  • Bacchilega, C. (2013). Fairy tales transformed? Twenty-first century adaptations and the politics of wonder. Wayne State University Press.
  • Benjamin, W. (2007). The Storyteller: Reflections on the Works of Nikolai Leskov. In H. Arendt (Ed.) (H. Zohn, Trans.), Essays and reflections (pp. 83-109). Schocken Books.
  • Bonet, D. R. (2022). Feminist rewritings of fairy tales in Ireland: A case study of Deirdre Sullivan. Études irlandaises, 47(2), 41-55. https://doi.org/10.4000/etudesirlandaises.13253
  • Byatt, A. S. (2002). On histories and stories: Selected essays. Harvard University Press.
  • Carter, A. (1997). Shaking a leg. Chatto and Vindus.
  • Crowley, K and Pennington, J. (2010). Feminist frauds on the fairies?: Didacticism and liberation in recent retellings of “Cinderella”. Marvels and Tales, 24(2), 297-313.
  • Dickens, C. (1853). Frauds on the fairies. Household Words, 8, 97-100, https://www.djo.org.uk/household-words/volume-viii/ (Accessed 2 September 2022).
  • Doležel, L. (1998). Heterocosmica: fiction and possible worlds. The John Hopkins University Press.
  • Donoghue, E. (1997). Kissing the witch: Old tales in new skins. Joanna Cotler Books, Harper Collins.
  • Eagleton, T. (2013). How to read literature. Yale University Press.
  • Eco, U. (1979). The role of the reader: Explorations in the semiotics of texts. Indiana University Press.
  • Fetterley, J. (1978). The resisting reader: A feminist approach to American fiction. Indiana University Press.
  • Fludernik, M. (2009). An introduction to narratology. Routledge.
  • Genette, G. (1992). The architext: An introduction (J. E. Lewin, Trans.). University of California Press.
  • Gramsci, A. (2000). The Gramsci reader: Selected writings 1916-1935 (D. Forgacs, Ed.). New York University Press.
  • Harries, E. W. (2001). Twice upon a time: Women writers and the history of the fairy tale. New Jersey: Princeton University Press.
  • Hennard Dutheil de la Rochère, M. (2009). Queering the fairy tale canon: Emma Donoghue’s Kissing the Witch. In S. R. Bobby (Ed.), Fairy tales reimagined: Essays on new retellings (pp. 13–30). McFarland & Company, Inc.
  • Lau, K. J. (2008). Erotic infidelities: Angela Carter’s Wolf Trilogy. Marvels and Tales, 22(1), 77-94.
  • Nolte-Odhiambo, C. (2018). Unhoming the child: Queer paths and precarious futures in Kissing the Witch. Pacific Coast Philology, 53(2), 239-250.
  • Orme, J. (2010). Mouth to mouth: Queer desires in Emma Donoghue’s Kissing the Witch. Marvels and Tales, 24(1), 116-130.
  • Rich, A. (1972). When we dead awaken: Women’s writing as re-vision. College English, 34(1), 18-30.
  • Riggs, A. (2016). Multiple metamorphoses, or “New Skins” for an Ood tale: Emma Donoghue’s Queer Cinderella in translation. In M. H. D. de la Rochère et. al. (Eds.), Cinderella across cultures: New directions and interdisciplinary perspectives (pp. 180-196). Wayne State University Press.
  • Sanders, J. (2006). Adaptation and appropriation. Routledge.
  • Schanoes, V. L. (2014). Fairy tales, myth, and psychoanalytic theory: Feminism and retelling the tale. Ashgate.
  • Walker, N. A. (1995). The disobedient writer: Women and narrative tradition. University of Texas Press.
  • Zipes, J. (2002). Breaking the magic spell: Radical theories of folk and fairy tales. The University Press of Kentucky.
  • Zipes, J. (2006). Fairy tales and the art of subversion. Routledge.
  • Zipes, J. (2011). The meaning of fairy tale within the evolution of culture. Marvels and Tales, 25(2), 221-243.
There are 28 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language English
Subjects British and Irish Language, Literature and Culture
Journal Section Articles
Authors

Gülden Hatipoğlu 0000-0001-6792-1427

Early Pub Date May 10, 2024
Publication Date June 28, 2024
Submission Date November 30, 2022
Acceptance Date September 11, 2023
Published in Issue Year 2024 Volume: 41 Issue: 1

Cite

APA Hatipoğlu, G. (2024). Narrative Space and Transtextual Dialogues in Emma Donoghue’s ’Kissing the Witch’. Hacettepe Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Dergisi, 41(1), 66-75. https://doi.org/10.32600/huefd.1212629


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