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Sleeping Beauty subtext in Rosario Ferre's "La bella durmiente" and Margaret Atwood's "Bluebeard's Egg"

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Date Issued:
1994
Summary:
The well-known Grimms' fairy tale "Sleeping Beauty" forms the subtext of two recent literary works, Rosario Ferre's novella "La bella durmiente" (1976) and Margaret Atwood's short story "Bluebeard's Egg" (1983). Both contemporary authors suggest that certain negative aspects inherent in the Sleeping Beauty paradigm should not persist in women's literature, unless the texts lead to transformation and self-realization of the heroines. This study demonstrates how the authors expose the fallacy in the paradigm, depart from it, and refigure it by transforming their heroines into characters quite distinct from the Grimm prototype. This study also suggests that Ferre's and Atwood's works serve as prototypes for feminine texts. As the characters distance themselves from hegemonic patriarchal traditions, each author's work is also removed from the referent of masculine literary traditions and returned to its origins, the oral tale.
Title: The Sleeping Beauty subtext in Rosario Ferre's "La bella durmiente" and Margaret Atwood's "Bluebeard's Egg".
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Name(s): Smith, Bonnie Lynne.
Florida Atlantic University, Degree grantor
Hokenson, Jan W., Thesis advisor
Type of Resource: text
Genre: Electronic Thesis Or Dissertation
Issuance: monographic
Date Issued: 1994
Publisher: Florida Atlantic University
Place of Publication: Boca Raton, Fla.
Physical Form: application/pdf
Extent: 99 p.
Language(s): English
Summary: The well-known Grimms' fairy tale "Sleeping Beauty" forms the subtext of two recent literary works, Rosario Ferre's novella "La bella durmiente" (1976) and Margaret Atwood's short story "Bluebeard's Egg" (1983). Both contemporary authors suggest that certain negative aspects inherent in the Sleeping Beauty paradigm should not persist in women's literature, unless the texts lead to transformation and self-realization of the heroines. This study demonstrates how the authors expose the fallacy in the paradigm, depart from it, and refigure it by transforming their heroines into characters quite distinct from the Grimm prototype. This study also suggests that Ferre's and Atwood's works serve as prototypes for feminine texts. As the characters distance themselves from hegemonic patriarchal traditions, each author's work is also removed from the referent of masculine literary traditions and returned to its origins, the oral tale.
Identifier: 15105 (digitool), FADT15105 (IID), fau:11882 (fedora)
Collection: FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection
Note(s): Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 1994.
Subject(s): Ferré, Rosario--Criticism and interpretation
Atwood, Margaret Eleanor,--1939---Criticism and interpretation
Ferré, Rosario--Bella durmiente
Atwood, Margaret Eleanor,--1939---Bluebeard's egg
Fairy tales--History and criticism
Sleeping Beauty (Tale)--Adaptations
Women in literature
Held by: Florida Atlantic University Libraries
Persistent Link to This Record: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/15105
Sublocation: Digital Library
Use and Reproduction: Copyright © is held by the author, with permission granted to Florida Atlantic University to digitize, archive and distribute this item for non-profit research and educational purposes. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions requires permission of the copyright holder.
Use and Reproduction: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Host Institution: FAU
Is Part of Series: Florida Atlantic University Digital Library Collections.