The construction of the feminine in the short stories Black Venus and Fall River Axe Murders by Angela Carter

• Grant number: 16/11180-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Effective date (Start): June 01, 2017
• Effective date (End): November 30, 2017
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Literature - Modern Foreign Literatures
• Principal Investigator: Cleide Antonia Rapucci
• Grantee: Carla Daniel Sardinha Caldeira
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências e Letras (FCL-ASSIS). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Assis. Assis , SP, Brazil

Abstract

This research aims a study of the characters Jeanne Duval and Lizzie Borden from the short stories by Angela Carter, "Black Venus" and "Fall River Axe Murders", respectively, found in the author's collection Black Venus. Its main goal is to reflect about the role that the patriarchy society gives to women throughout history - considering that the characters were inspired in real people - and how, in these short stories, such women gain their own voice. We focus on the construction of the female character to reflect upon the woman's role by using the concept of herstory. One of the books used will be Mulher e Deusa: a construção do feminino em Fireworks de Angela Carter by Cleide Antonia Rapucci to understand better the construction of Carter's female character; as well as theoretical texts of feminist criticism like "A crítica feminista no território selvagem" by Elaine Showalter and "Crítica feminista" by Lúcia Osana Zolin; besides books such as Adrienne Rich's On Lies, Secrets and Silence to analyze how women have been represented (or not represented at all) in History and Literature. (AU)