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Author-ity, privilege and violation

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Date Issued:
2010
Summary:
Can the subaltern really speak? Invoking Gayatri Spivak's post-colonial theory on the subaltern, this study aims to highlight the necessary, yet problematic relationship between intellectuals and the marginalized groups they seek to represent. This study argues that in the last chapter of Julia Alvarez's How the Garcâia Girls Lost Their Accents, the image of the wailing cat becomes a haunting image regarding Alvarez's own subject-position as a writer, a role that often places her in the center of harsh criticism. Consequently, this project traces the subaltern figures through three of Alvarez's texts -¡YO!, In the Time of the Butterflies, and Saving the World - in order to reveal the paradox that defines their relationship with the privileged body that seeks to be their representative. The subaltern cannot speak beyond the margins without the help of the elite; however, the same position of privilege and power that enables the intellectual to write can quickly become the factor that discredits their right to speak. Consequently, this study also attempts to reclaim the voice of Julia Alvarez, who is herself silenced and thus, rendered subaltern in the literary market by critics who feel that her privileged position complicates her ability to represent the collective.
Title: Author-ity, privilege and violation: the role of subaltern and the intellectual in the novels of Julia Alvarez.
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Name(s): Alonso, Raquel.
Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Department of English
Type of Resource: text
Genre: Electronic Thesis Or Dissertation
Date Issued: 2010
Publisher: Florida Atlantic University
Physical Form: electronic
Extent: vii, 94 p.
Language(s): English
Summary: Can the subaltern really speak? Invoking Gayatri Spivak's post-colonial theory on the subaltern, this study aims to highlight the necessary, yet problematic relationship between intellectuals and the marginalized groups they seek to represent. This study argues that in the last chapter of Julia Alvarez's How the Garcâia Girls Lost Their Accents, the image of the wailing cat becomes a haunting image regarding Alvarez's own subject-position as a writer, a role that often places her in the center of harsh criticism. Consequently, this project traces the subaltern figures through three of Alvarez's texts -¡YO!, In the Time of the Butterflies, and Saving the World - in order to reveal the paradox that defines their relationship with the privileged body that seeks to be their representative. The subaltern cannot speak beyond the margins without the help of the elite; however, the same position of privilege and power that enables the intellectual to write can quickly become the factor that discredits their right to speak. Consequently, this study also attempts to reclaim the voice of Julia Alvarez, who is herself silenced and thus, rendered subaltern in the literary market by critics who feel that her privileged position complicates her ability to represent the collective.
Identifier: 697796768 (oclc), 2867330 (digitool), FADT2867330 (IID), fau:3552 (fedora)
Note(s): by Raquel Alonso.
Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2010.
Includes bibliography.
Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2010. Mode of access: World Wide Web.
Subject(s): Alvarez, Julia
Alvarez, Julia
Alvarez, Julia
Alvarez, Julia
Marginality, Social
Persistent Link to This Record: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/2867330
Use and Reproduction: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Host Institution: FAU