CHANGE of SEX in FOLK NARRATIVES By
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“SHE WAS REALLY THE MAN SHE PRETENDED TO BE”: CHANGE OF SEX IN FOLK NARRATIVES by Psyche Z. Ready A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of George Mason University in Partial Fulfillment of The Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts English Committee: ___________________________________________ Director ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ Department Chairperson ___________________________________________ Dean, College of Humanities and Social Sciences Date: _____________________________________ Spring Semester 2016 George Mason University Fairfax, VA “She was really the man she pretended to be”: Change of Sex in Folk Narratives A Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts at George Mason University by Psyche Z. Ready Bachelor of Arts Shimer College, 2000 Director: Joy Fraser, Assistant Professor Department of English Spring Semester 2016 George Mason University Fairfax, VA This work is licensed under a creative commons attribution-noderivs 3.0 unported license. ii DEDICATION This is dedicated to those who might want to read about a change of sex that ends with a happily ever after. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank the members of my thesis committee, Tamara Harvey and Samaine Lockwood, for their helpful and patient support, and especially my committee director Joy Fraser for her time, knowledge, and kindness. I am grateful to scholars Veronica Schanoes and Jeana Jorgensen for pointing me toward tales and for answering my questions about what it is to be a folklorist. I am indebted to Heidi Dahlsveen, a storyteller who keeps variants of “The Shift of Sex” alive through performance, and to folklorist Csenge Virág Zalka, who translated from Hungarian two variants of this tale that enriched my work on this thesis. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page List of Tables .................................................................................................................... vii List of Figures .................................................................................................................. viii Abstract .............................................................................................................................. ix Chapter One: Introduction .................................................................................................. 1 Section One: Overview ................................................................................................... 1 Section Two: Review of the Literature ........................................................................... 3 Section 2a: Feminist Theory ........................................................................................ 3 Section 2b: Queer and Transgender Theory ................................................................ 5 Section 2c: Queer and Transgender Approaches to Folk Narratives ........................... 8 Section Three: Methods ................................................................................................ 10 Chapter Two: Background ................................................................................................ 16 Section 1: Popular Representations of Cross-Dressing ................................................. 16 Section 2: Ballads .......................................................................................................... 21 Section 3: Cross-Dressing in Oral Folk Narratives ....................................................... 22 Chapter Three: Variants of ATU 514 ............................................................................... 28 Variant Group 1: The Borrowed Sex ............................................................................ 31 Variant Group 2: The Mother’s Deception ................................................................... 36 Variant Group 3: The Youngest Daughter .................................................................... 41 Variant Group 4: Magical Transformation.................................................................... 46 Variant Group 5: The Hero and the Princess ................................................................ 52 Variant Group 6: Trickster Hero ................................................................................... 60 Variant Group 7: Tiresias Tales .................................................................................... 66 Chapter Four: Analysis of ATU 514 ................................................................................. 75 Section 1: Brief or Regional Studies of ATU 514 ........................................................ 75 Section 2: Major Studies on ATU 514 .......................................................................... 81 Section 3: Queer and Transgender Analysis ................................................................. 83 v Chapter Five: Transgressive Themes ................................................................................ 85 Section 1: Secondary Narratives ................................................................................... 85 Section 2: Oppressive Marriage Traditions and Expectations ...................................... 85 Section 3: Freedom and Employment ........................................................................... 87 Section 4: The Princess and the Hero: A Homosexual Relationship ............................ 88 Section 5: Guns vs. Flowers: Gender Stereotypes ........................................................ 90 Section 6: The Oppressive Father Figure: The Patriarch .............................................. 91 Section 7: Category Crisis ............................................................................................. 95 Section 8: Conclusion.................................................................................................... 97 Appendix 1: Variant of ATU 514 From the Ossetian Nart Saga ..................................... 99 Appendix 2: Finnish Variants of ATU 514 .................................................................... 107 Works Cited .................................................................................................................... 116 vi LIST OF TABLES Table Page Table 1: Languages or Regions in which ATU 514 has been collected ........................... 13 Table 2: ATU 514 Organized Into Groups Based on Significant Motifs ......................... 30 Table 3: The Borrowed Sex Variant Group ...................................................................... 32 Table 4: The Mother's Deception Variant Group ............................................................. 37 Table 5: The Youngest Daughter Variant Group .............................................................. 42 Table 6: Magical Transformation Variant Group ............................................................. 47 Table 7: The Hero and the Princess Variant Group .......................................................... 53 Table 8: Trickster Hero Variant Group ............................................................................. 62 Table 9: Tiresias Tales Variant Group .............................................................................. 67 vii LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page Figure 1: The Hero Charges the Lion ................................................................................. 2 Figure 2: The Hero Rescues the Princess ......................................................................... 56 Figure 3: Tiresias Strikes Two Snakes with a Stick, and is Transformed into a Woman . 69 viii ABSTRACT “SHE WAS REALLY THE MAN SHE PRETENDED TO BE”: CHANGE OF SEX IN FOLK NARRATIVES Psyche Z. Ready, M.A. George Mason University, 2016 Thesis Director: Dr. Joy Fraser Folktale Type ATU 514, “The Change of Sex,” is one that has been told and collected continuously for three thousand years. Variants appear across Europe and the Middle East, and in Asia and the Americas. In this tale type, the female protagonist cross-dresses as a man, and after a series of adventures, is physically transformed into a man, marries a princess, and lives happily ever after. This thesis brings together the largest collection of variants of ATU 514 to date. Analysis of these variants, informed by feminist, queer, and transgender theory, is based on cross-tale comparison and discussion of a pattern repeated in every variant: outside the primary narrative action, there is a secondary narrative in which characters in the tale express frustration at the limitations of sex, gender, and gender identity. ix CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION Section One: Overview This project is a comparative analysis of all known variants of ATU 514: “The Shift of Sex,” a less popular tale type that does not often appear in published collections, although it has been continuously told for about three thousand years. In this tale, a young woman leaves home dressed as a man either to escape a bad situation or to support her family. She is strong, brave, and clever, and enters the king’s service. The king adores his new soldier and is delighted when his daughter falls in love with her, believing her to be a man, and they are betrothed. Someone in the castle doubts her masculinity, and sends her on a series of impossible feats, hoping to kill her. She has the help of a magical horse or helper, who gets her through these tasks successfully. In the final task, she is pitted against a monster who