Of Melusines, Sirens, Ondines and Fish. A Reflection on Women, Language and Power in Selected Works from Twentieth-Century German Literature
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1344/Lectora2021.27.14Keywords:
feminism, women and writing, twentieth-century German literature, feminine aquatic figures, waterAbstract
Water has often been linked to femininity in various cultures. This has resulted in a profusion of symbols. Sirens, the figure of Melusine, as well as ondines, have all been relevant figures, associated, for the most part, with a threatening view of the feminine. However, romanticism and then surrealism would subvert such an idea: by linking women to that which is liquid, feminine figures were endowed with redeeming powers. Western feminism, especially that which postulates difference, has employed such an involvement between the feminine and the fluid to critically re-think the role of femininity within the symbolic universe and, stemming from there, to put forth other possibilities of conceptualization and representation. This paper explores some of the aquatic figures present in four works by German-speaking women writers: Ingeborg Bachmann, Irmtraud Morgner, and Yoko Tawada. Figures associated with the aquatic medium are central to all of them, and are deployed to address issues of identity, power, language, and writing.
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