Reviving The Feminine Motifs in The Oral Tradition of ‘Little Red Riding Hood’: Angela Carter’s ‘The Werewolf’ and Tanith Lee’s ‘Wolfland’

Yıl 2015, Sayı: 34, 153 - 172, 20.04.2015

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Öz

Angela Carter’s ‘The Werewolf’ (1979) and Tanith Lee’s ‘Wolfland’ (1989) are two late twentieth century rewritings of ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ which revive the feminine perspective found in its oral version through adopting abject representations. The protagonists of these stories travel into the forest in order to identify with their grandmothers represented in abject forms as werewolves. By combining the grandmother and the wolf in a single image, both Carter and Lee eliminate the figure of the male wolf and they introduce this fluid and plural image as a celebration of genealogical inheritance that emphasizes the maternal bond, the transmission of female skills and female knowledge from the grandmother onto the granddaughter, and the union of the self with the other. Thus, they subvert the maledominated gendered discourse embedded in the literary versions of the tale by Perrault and the Brothers Grimm by liberating female identity from patriarchal authority.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Abject, Angela Carter, female identity, Kristeva, Little Red Riding Hood, Tanith Lee

Angela Carter’ın “The Werewolf” ve Tanith Lee’nin “Wolfland” Başlıklı Öykülerinde “Kırmızı Başlıklı Kız” Masalının Sözlü Geleneğinde Bulunan Kadınsal Öğelerin Yeniden Canlandırılması

Öz

Angela Carter “The Werewolf” (1979) ve Tanith Lee “Wolfland” (1989) başlıklı öykülerinde, “Kırmızı Başlıklı Kız” masalını, bu masalın sözlü gelenekteki örneğinde bulunan kadın bakışaçısını “abject” temsiller üzerinden vurgulayarak 20.yy sonlarında yeniden yorumlamışlardır. Bu öykülerin kadın kahramanları, kurtadama dönüşmüş olarak temsil edilen “abject” büyükanneleriyle özdeşleşmek için ormana doğru yola çıkarlar. Carter ve Lee, erkek kurt figürünü, büyükanneyi ve kurdu tek bir imgede birleştirerek yok eder. Ayrıca, bu akışkan ve çoğul imgeyi anneyle olan bağı, büyükanneden torununa geçen kadınsal beceri ve bilgileri, öznenin ancak ötekiyle bir bütün oluşturabileceğini vurgulayarak soyağacından gelen bir miras olarak sunarlar. Böylece, kadın kimliğini ataerkil otoritenin elinden kurtararak Perrault ve Grimm Kardeşler’in “Kırmızı Başlıklı Kız” masalında bulunan erkek egemen cinsiyetçi söylemi yıkarlar.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Abject, Angela Carter, kadın kimliği, Kristeva, Kırmızı Başlıklı Kız, Tanith Lee

Kaynakça

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