Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro Centro de Educação e Humanidades Instituto de Letras Fabio Jarbeson da Silva Trajano Writing Beyond the Edges: Appropriation, Rewriting and Blurring of Genres in Angela Carter’s Nights at the Circus and Wise Children Rio de Janeiro 2010 Fabio Jarbeson da Silva Trajano Writing Beyond the Edges: Appropriation, Rewriting and Blurring of Genres in Angela Carter’s Nights at the Circus and Wise Children Dissertação apresentada, como requisito parcial para obtenção do título de Mestre, ao Programa de Pós-Graduação em Letras, da Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro. Área de Concentração: Literaturas de Língua Inglesa. Orientadora: Profª. Drª. Peonia Viana Guedes Rio de Janeiro 2010 CATALOGAÇÃO NA FONTE UERJ/REDE SIRIUS/CEHB C323 Trajano, Fabio Jarbeson da Silva. Writing beyond the edges: appropriation, rewriting and blurring of genres in Angela Carter’s Nights at the Circus and Wise Children / Fabio Jarbeson da Silva Trajano. – 2010. 122 f. Orientadora: Peônia Viana Guedes. Dissertação (mestrado) – Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Instituto de Letras. 1. Carter, Angela, 1940-1992. Nights at the Circus – Teses. 2. Carter, Angela, 1940-1992. Wise Children – Teses. 3. Intertextualidade – Teses. 4. Discriminação de sexo contra as mulheres – Teses. 5. Mulheres – Condições sociais – Teses. 6. Pós-modernismo (Literatura) – Aspectos sociais – Teses. 7. Fevvers (Personagem fictício) – Teses. 8. Dora Chance (Personagem fictício) – Teses. I. Guedes, Peônia Viana. II. Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro. Instituto de Letras. III. Título. CDU 820-95 Autorizo, apenas para fins acadêmicos e científicos, a reprodução total ou parcial desta dissertação __________________________ __________________ Assinatura Data Fabio Jarbeson da Silva Trajano Writing Beyond the Edges: Appropriation, Rewriting and Blurring of Genres in Angela Carter’s Nights at the Circus and Wise Children Dissertação apresentada, como requisito parcial para obtenção do título de Mestre, ao Programa de Pós-Graduação em Letras, da Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro. Área de Concentração: Literaturas de Língua Inglesa. Aprovada em 25 de março de 2010 Banca Examinadora: ________________________________________ Profª. Drª. Peonia Viana Guedes (Orientadora) Instituto de Letras da UERJ ________________________________________ Prof. Dr. Luiz Manoel da Silva Oliveira Departamento de Letras da UFSJR ________________________________________ Profª. Drª. Fernanda Teixeira de Medeiros Instituto de Letras da UERJ Rio de Janeiro 2010 DEDICATION To all those who, one way or another, to a greater or lesser degree, have already been or are still victimised on the basis of, inter alia, gender, race, sexual orientation, class, nationality and age by the taxonomical ‘truths’ constructed and perpetuated by patriarchy by means of, among other things, religious, political and military institutions as well as, perhaps worst of all, the family. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS There are some people I would like to thank: First of all, I have to thank the family of my heart: my motherly friend Carla Branco, my brotherly friend Glalber Dias, and all the other relatives who although not related by blood, have been far more special than that to me: the twin brothers Marcinho ET and Luciano, Fernando Rocha, Cristiano Batatinha, Fabrício Cazuza, Daniele Nazário, Eduardo Lourinho, Claudinéa Alves, Jessé Dedéu, Flavinho, Régis Sereno, Alex Rodrigues, Carlinhos Rodrigues, Samantha Borchear, Dona Lourdes, Marzio Ramone Finoti, Hemerson Valentim, Cristiano Baita, Katiúscia Castro, Gabriela Fróes – my very first friend in Rio –, Lívia Jacob, Claudinho Crô, Paulo Félix, Isabela, José Paulo and his mother Dona Maria. Last but not least, my dear niece Sarah Trajano de Rosa, the first wise child in the family. Thank you all VERY MUCH for your love, support and encouragement through all these years. I would never have been able to make it without any one of you. I love you all guys!!! I have also to thank all those teachers who are responsible for my new achievement. First and foremost, the one responsible for my ‘intellectual awakening’, my beloved Maths teacher Seu Maurício Coser. Similarly, my thanks to my History teacher, Dona Justa, who first taught me to have critical eyes and my Science teacher Seu Felipe from whom I learned that being different did not necessarily mean to be a freak. Thanks Tia Lúcia for consolidating English in my life and to CCAA/Carangola’s crew, especially Dalva and Elaine, for their help and support whenever needed. Of course, thanks to all my Language and Literature professors at UERJ, but my special thanks certainly goes to professor Tânia Shepherd who had eyes to see beyond and believed in me from the start. Finally, I would like to thank all the professors in the Literatures in English Master’s Program, most particularly professor Peonia Guedes, my advisor and the one who made me sure that Literature was the best way I could make a difference in the world since my undergraduate years. Likewise, my special thanks to Angela Carter who helped me understand myself and the world better. Without all of you, this dissertation would not have been possible. Thank you all very much!!! Ye shall know that truth is not what it seems and that truth shall set you free. Stanley Fish Is not this whole world an illusion? And yet it fools everybody. Angela Carter It is a characteristic of human beings [...] that if they don’t have a family of their own, they will invent one. Angela Carter RESUMO TRAJANO, Fabio Jarbeson da Silva. Writing beyond the edges: appropriation, rewriting and blurring of genres in Angela Carter’s Nights at the Circus and Wise Children. 2010. 122 f. Dissertação (Metrado em Literaturas de Língua Inglesa) – Instituto de Letras, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, 2010. O objetivo desta dissertação é investigar e analisar a transgressão e o borramento de fronteiras de gênero (categoria narrativa) e sua conexão com a emancipação do sujeito feminino no nível da narrativa nos dois últimos romances de Angela Carter, Nights at the Circus e Wise Children, à luz da teoria da intertextualidade paródica. O tipo de opressão pela qual passam as narradoras/protagonistas Fevvers e Dora Chance bem como as outras personagens femininas em ambos os romances mostra-se intrinsicamente relacionada às restrições ideológicas e formais tradicionalmente impostas aos gêneros (categoria narrativa) pelo patriarcalismo. Estas são precisamente as normas e regulamentos que Angela Carter se propõe desvelar, questionar e minar de forma a preparar o caminho para novas alternativas bem como diferentes possibilidades de futuro tanto para homens como mulheres. A principal contribuição desta dissertação está em sua tentativa de relacionar gênero (categoria narrativa), gênero (determinação sexual) e mudança social a fim de encorajar mais pesquisas sobre o poder político que subjaz a pós-moderna reescritura ou ‘reinvenção’ e borramento de gêneros (categoria narrativa) praticada pelo sujeito feminino. Palavras-chave: Pós-modernismo. Intertextualidade paródica. Borramento de fronteiras. Gênero (categoria narrativa). Gênero (determinação sexual). ABSTRACT The aim of this dissertation is to investigate and analyse the transgression and blurring of genre boundaries and its connection with the emancipation of the female subject on the level of the narrative in Angela Carter’s last two novels, Nights at the Circus and Wise Children, in the light of parodic intertextuality theory. The sort of oppression the narrators/protagonists Fevvers and Dora Chance as well as the other female characters undergo in both novels turn out to be intrinsically related to the ideological and formal constraints traditionally imposed on genres by patriarchy. These are precisely the norms and regulations Angela Carter sets out to unveil, question and undermine so as to pave the way for new alternatives as well as different future possibilities for men and women alike. The main contribution of this dissertation lies in its attempt to relate genre, gender and social change in order to nourish further research on the political power underlying postmodern female rewriting or ‘reinvention’ and blurring of genres. Keywords: Postmodernism. Parodic intertextuality. Blurring of boundaries. Genre. Gender. TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION? ......................................................................................... 10 1 THERE IS ‘NOTHING’ NEW UNDER CARTER’S SUN ......................... 24 2 UNDER CARTER’S PARODIC UMBRELLA ............................................ 37 3 HOCUS-POCUS... VOILÀ! C’EST CARTER ................................................ 49 4 THE AMUSINGLY TERRIFYING DISRUPTIVE INGREDIENTS OF CARTER’S LIBERATING NETHER WORLD .......................................... 61 A 5 CARTER’S IDIOSYNCRATIC ÃND DÊB SÏNGLY GRÒTESQÚE BODY ................................................................................................................ 74 6 ...CARTERLY-CONSTRUCTED (AUTO)-BIO-GRAPH-ICAL FEMALE NARRATIVES... ............................................................................................ 85 7 PICARESQUE & BILDUNGSROMAN À LA CARTER .............................. 97 8 CONCLUSION... ......................................................................................... 108 REFERENCES .............................................................................................. 113 10 INTRODUCTION? Welcome to the Ludic Game! 1 Angela Carter Be advised [...]: