Myths, Revisited: The Ageing Woman in Sara Maitland’s Feminist Retellings
In this article, I investigate the representation of ageing women in Sara Maitland’s short story collection On Becoming a Fairy Godmother (2003). Rejecting the cultural imperative that would push women to the side-lines after hitting menopause, Maitland’s mythical revisions place them and their live...
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| Language: | English |
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Asociación Española de Estudios Anglo-Norteamericanos (AEDEAN)
2024-12-01
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| Series: | Atlantis |
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| Online Access: | https://www.atlantisjournal.org/index.php/atlantis/article/view/1030 |
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| author | Alba Morollón Díaz-Faes |
| author_facet | Alba Morollón Díaz-Faes |
| author_sort | Alba Morollón Díaz-Faes |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In this article, I investigate the representation of ageing women in Sara Maitland’s short story collection On Becoming a Fairy Godmother (2003). Rejecting the cultural imperative that would push women to the side-lines after hitting menopause, Maitland’s mythical revisions place them and their lives in the limelight. To this end, I draw on cultural gerontology to analyse the techniques Maitland employs to reimagine characters from foundational myths of the western tradition, such as Helen of Troy and Deborah the Prophetess, as agentic, ageing protagonists. Ultimately, I show that through her sustained challenging of conventional scripts on gender and age, Maitland offers a complex, often contradictory collection that destabilises univocal narratives of desexualisation and decline in post-menopausal women. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-2fc7a90c1c6c4658ba7dcb305fbc02dd |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 1989-6840 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-12-01 |
| publisher | Asociación Española de Estudios Anglo-Norteamericanos (AEDEAN) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Atlantis |
| spelling | doaj-art-2fc7a90c1c6c4658ba7dcb305fbc02dd2025-08-20T02:39:45ZengAsociación Española de Estudios Anglo-Norteamericanos (AEDEAN)Atlantis1989-68402024-12-0146220522010.28914/Atlantis-2024-46.2.11Myths, Revisited: The Ageing Woman in Sara Maitland’s Feminist RetellingsAlba Morollón Díaz-Faes0Universidade NOVA de LisboaIn this article, I investigate the representation of ageing women in Sara Maitland’s short story collection On Becoming a Fairy Godmother (2003). Rejecting the cultural imperative that would push women to the side-lines after hitting menopause, Maitland’s mythical revisions place them and their lives in the limelight. To this end, I draw on cultural gerontology to analyse the techniques Maitland employs to reimagine characters from foundational myths of the western tradition, such as Helen of Troy and Deborah the Prophetess, as agentic, ageing protagonists. Ultimately, I show that through her sustained challenging of conventional scripts on gender and age, Maitland offers a complex, often contradictory collection that destabilises univocal narratives of desexualisation and decline in post-menopausal women. https://www.atlantisjournal.org/index.php/atlantis/article/view/1030retellings; myth; cultural gerontology; ageing studies; feminist literature; short story |
| spellingShingle | Alba Morollón Díaz-Faes Myths, Revisited: The Ageing Woman in Sara Maitland’s Feminist Retellings Atlantis retellings; myth; cultural gerontology; ageing studies; feminist literature; short story |
| title | Myths, Revisited: The Ageing Woman in Sara Maitland’s Feminist Retellings |
| title_full | Myths, Revisited: The Ageing Woman in Sara Maitland’s Feminist Retellings |
| title_fullStr | Myths, Revisited: The Ageing Woman in Sara Maitland’s Feminist Retellings |
| title_full_unstemmed | Myths, Revisited: The Ageing Woman in Sara Maitland’s Feminist Retellings |
| title_short | Myths, Revisited: The Ageing Woman in Sara Maitland’s Feminist Retellings |
| title_sort | myths revisited the ageing woman in sara maitland s feminist retellings |
| topic | retellings; myth; cultural gerontology; ageing studies; feminist literature; short story |
| url | https://www.atlantisjournal.org/index.php/atlantis/article/view/1030 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT albamorollondiazfaes mythsrevisitedtheageingwomaninsaramaitlandsfeministretellings |