Gender in question: criticism and education in the Bildungsromane The Secret Life of Bees (2002), by Sue Monk Kidd and Sapato de Salto (2006), by Lygia Bojunga

• Grant number: 11/15151-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: March 01, 2012
• End date: February 28, 2014
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Literature - Comparative Literature
• Principal Investigator: Cláudia Maria Ceneviva Nigro
• Grantee: Juliane Camila Chatagnier
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências, Letras e Ciências Exatas (IBILCE). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de São José do Rio Preto. São José do Rio Preto , SP, Brazil

Abstract

In this work, gender issues presented in some theories and critical studies, such as Beauvoir, Wittig, Butler and Hollanda will be discussed. Based on those theories, two contemporary novels will be analyzed: Sue Monk Kidd's The Secret Life of Bees (2002), and Lygia Bojunga's, Sapato de Salto (2006). This will be done in order to compare how each writer presents the protagonists education process. Since these novels are considered female Bildungsromane, it is also necessary to verify how the shape of these coming-of-age novels (Bildungsroman) influences the main character feminine constructions (gender). It is pertinent to highlight that the protagonists formation will be evaluated according to the critical perspectives adopted, in which the subject is performative and claim positions as a mark of their own identity. As a critical-theoretical background, it will be used the works of Laclau (1990), Ortiz (1994) and Sousa Santos (2001, 2004) to contextualize the period in which the narratives are embedded (contemporaneity), Pinto´s (1990) and Maas´s (2000) works, in order to examine the coming-of-age novel, traditional or female, and Beauvoir´s (1974), Wittig´s (1982), Hollanda´s (1994) and Butler´s (1990, 2001, 2004) approach to female gender studies.

Academic Publications

(References retrieved automatically from State of São Paulo Research Institutions)

CHATAGNIER, Juliane Camila. O gênero em questão: crítica e formação nos Bildungsromane The Secret Life of Bees, de Sue Monk Kidd, e Sapato de salto, de Lygia Bojunga. 2014. Master's Dissertation - Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp). Instituto de Biociências Letras e Ciências Exatas. São José do Rio Preto São José do Rio Preto.