Subverting children’s literature: A feminist approach to reading  Angela Carter

S.S. NEIMNEH; N.A AL-ZOUBI; R.K AL-KHALILI

S.S. NEIMNEH Hashemite University, Zarqa, Jordan
N.A AL-ZOUBI Hashemite University, Zarqa, Jordan
R.K AL-KHALILI Hashemite University, Zarqa, Jordan

Palabras clave: Angela Carter, children’s literature, feminism and gender, patriarchal values, short fiction. / Angela Carter, Feminismo y género, ficción corta, literatura infantil, valores patriarcales.

Resumen

ABSTRACT

This article argues the importance of the short stories of Angela Carter to the field of children’s literature and its current adaptations. It looks at two of her stories. The result is fiction building on some patterns of children’s literature yet with a feminist tinge that questions the foundations of patriarchy. Her stories do not simply reverse patriarchy but subvert it from within. Sexual victimization and complicity in one’s oppression might be harmful, Carter seems to argue, but equally harmful is the underlying sexual slant of the popular fairy tales told/taught to children and instilling patriarchal values.

RESUMEN

Este artículo argumenta la importancia de los cuentos de Angela Carter en el campo de la literatura infantil y sus adaptaciones actuales. Mira dos de sus historias. El resultado es que la ficción se basa en algunos patrones de literatura infantil pero con un matiz feminista que cuestiona los fundamentos del patriarcado. Sus historias no solo revierten el patriarcado sino que lo subvierten desde adentro. La victimización sexual y la complicidad en la opresión de uno pueden ser perjudiciales, parece argumentar Carter, pero igualmente perjudicial es la inclinación sexual subyacente de los populares cuentos de hadas contados / enseñados a los niños e inculcando valores patriarcales.

Biografía del autor/a

S.S. NEIMNEH, Hashemite University, Zarqa, Jordan

Shadi S. Neimneh is an associate professor of literary and cultural studies at Hashemite University, Jordan. He teaches in the English Language and Literature Department and specializes in modernity and theory as well as cultural studies. His most recent publication is: “Subversive Bodies: J. M. Coetzee’s In the Heart of the Country and Psychoanalytic Feminism” in Ars Artium: An International Research Journal of English Studies and Culture 7 (Jan. 2019): 20-34. He can be contacted at shadin@hu.edu.jo. ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3041-5306

N.A AL-ZOUBI, Hashemite University, Zarqa, Jordan

Najah A. Al Zoubi is a lecturer in the English Department at Hashemite University, Jordan, where she teaches different literature courses since she joined the Department in 2019. She can be reached at NajahA@hu.edu.jo

R.K AL-KHALILI, Hashemite University, Zarqa, Jordan

Raja K. Al-Khalili is an associate professor of American literature and drama in the English Department at Hashemite University, Jordan. She has published numerous articles and taught different courses for BA and MA students. She can be contacted at raja@hu.edu.jo

Citas

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Subverting children’s literature: A feminist approach to reading Angela Carter

Resumen

Biografía del autor/a

Citas

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