Reiteration of Jane Eyre's Search for the Feminine Subject in Atkinson's Crime Novels
Kate Atkinson in her first and fourth crime novels, Case Histories and Started Early, Took My Dog, rewrites Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre and other Female Gothic narratives to ponder feminism’s failure to ‘arrive.’ Second-wave feminism asks women to retrieve the half-obliterated feminine subject and...
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The English Language and Literature Research Association of Türkiye
2023-04-01
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Series: | Ideas: Journal of English Literary Studies |
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Online Access: | https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/2704582 |
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author | Esra Melikoğlu |
author_facet | Esra Melikoğlu |
author_sort | Esra Melikoğlu |
collection | DOAJ |
description | Kate Atkinson in her first and fourth crime novels, Case Histories and Started Early, Took My Dog, rewrites Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre and other Female Gothic narratives to ponder feminism’s failure to ‘arrive.’ Second-wave feminism asks women to retrieve the half-obliterated feminine subject and construct from the fragments an emancipated identity for themselves. In Atkinson’s first crime novel, the amateur detective and actress Julia Land must retrieve a vanished sister and, in the fourth, in her onscreen role as a forensic pathologist the identity of a mutilated sex worker. Yet Julia repeats Jane Eyre’s simultaneous search for a lost woman and complicity with patriarchy’s occlusion of her. Atkinson, it will be argued, signals that the contemporary literary female investigator and ultimately today’s women relive the gothic heroine’s dilemma: Susceptible to the myth of romantic love, they abort their feminist mission and collude with patriarchy’s obliteration of the feminine subject. |
format | Article |
id | doaj-art-03952091279f48af9addcea58e5a72f7 |
institution | Kabale University |
issn | 2757-9549 |
language | English |
publishDate | 2023-04-01 |
publisher | The English Language and Literature Research Association of Türkiye |
record_format | Article |
series | Ideas: Journal of English Literary Studies |
spelling | doaj-art-03952091279f48af9addcea58e5a72f72025-01-05T19:26:44ZengThe English Language and Literature Research Association of TürkiyeIdeas: Journal of English Literary Studies2757-95492023-04-01315870Reiteration of Jane Eyre's Search for the Feminine Subject in Atkinson's Crime NovelsEsra Melikoğlu0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4996-5490Istanbul UniversityKate Atkinson in her first and fourth crime novels, Case Histories and Started Early, Took My Dog, rewrites Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre and other Female Gothic narratives to ponder feminism’s failure to ‘arrive.’ Second-wave feminism asks women to retrieve the half-obliterated feminine subject and construct from the fragments an emancipated identity for themselves. In Atkinson’s first crime novel, the amateur detective and actress Julia Land must retrieve a vanished sister and, in the fourth, in her onscreen role as a forensic pathologist the identity of a mutilated sex worker. Yet Julia repeats Jane Eyre’s simultaneous search for a lost woman and complicity with patriarchy’s occlusion of her. Atkinson, it will be argued, signals that the contemporary literary female investigator and ultimately today’s women relive the gothic heroine’s dilemma: Susceptible to the myth of romantic love, they abort their feminist mission and collude with patriarchy’s obliteration of the feminine subject. https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/2704582kate atkinsoncase historiesstarted earlytook my dogjane eyrefeminine subject |
spellingShingle | Esra Melikoğlu Reiteration of Jane Eyre's Search for the Feminine Subject in Atkinson's Crime Novels Ideas: Journal of English Literary Studies kate atkinson case histories started early took my dog jane eyre feminine subject |
title | Reiteration of Jane Eyre's Search for the Feminine Subject in Atkinson's Crime Novels |
title_full | Reiteration of Jane Eyre's Search for the Feminine Subject in Atkinson's Crime Novels |
title_fullStr | Reiteration of Jane Eyre's Search for the Feminine Subject in Atkinson's Crime Novels |
title_full_unstemmed | Reiteration of Jane Eyre's Search for the Feminine Subject in Atkinson's Crime Novels |
title_short | Reiteration of Jane Eyre's Search for the Feminine Subject in Atkinson's Crime Novels |
title_sort | reiteration of jane eyre s search for the feminine subject in atkinson s crime novels |
topic | kate atkinson case histories started early took my dog jane eyre feminine subject |
url | https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/2704582 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT esramelikoglu reiterationofjaneeyressearchforthefemininesubjectinatkinsonscrimenovels |