Representations of Women in the Work of Gustave Flaubert and Leo Tolstoy

Date of Award

2009

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Humanities

First Advisor

Schatz, David.

Keywords

Flaubert, Gustave, Tolstoy, Leo, Spivak, Gayatri C., Ortner, Sherry B., Chodorow, Nancy J., Realism, Literature, Gender Studies, Post-Colonialism, Ecofeminism, Psychoanalysis

Area of Concentration

Literature

Abstract

This thesis examines works by two recognized masters of Realist fiction, Gustave Flaubert and Leo Tolstoy, in light of contemporary feminist theories. The purpose of this thesis is twofold: to examine both the canonical novels and lesser-known short stories of these Realist writers and to consider a range of feminist approaches to literature. The first chapter reads Flaubert's short story "A Simple Heart" ("Un Coeur Simple") (1877) in conjunction with Gayatri C. Spivak and post-colonial, post-modernist theory. The second chapter examines Leo Tolstoy's novella "Family Happiness" (1859) through the lens of ecofeminism, using Sherry B. Ortner's essay "Is Female to Male as Nature is to Culture?" (1972) as a frame. In the third chapter, I look at both Flaubert's MADAME BOVARY (1857) and Tolstoy's ANNA KARENINA (1877) and their respective representations of motherhood via Nancy Chodorow and object-relations theory. This thesis is an attempt not only to rethink the ways in which texts by canonical authors are read, but to also create new possibilities for feminist analyses.

Rights

This bibliographic record is available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication. The New College of Florida, as creator of this bibliographic record, has waived all rights to it worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law.

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