Women’s Autobiographical Novels: A comparative Study between Charlote Brontё’s Villette (1853) and Taos Amrouche’s Jacinthe Noire (1947)
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Date
2019
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Université Mouloud Mammeri Tizi Ouzou
Abstract
This dissertation investigates the autobiographical discourse in Charlotte Brontё’s Villette
(1853) and Taos Amrouche’ Jacinthe Noire (1947) through a comparison of various aspects
of the two narratives. This study relies on Philip Leujene’s ‘autobiographical pact’ that
delineates the scope of the autobiography genre and provides the necessary material to
distinguish it from the autobiographical novel and other literary forms. The analysis also
resorts to Elizabeth R. Baer Dean’s “The Journey Inward: Women’s Autobiography” which
perceives women’s autobiography as an outward and inward journey to remember, reflect or
reveal truth within themselves. This dissertation aims to demonstrate that the two writers
appeal to the autobiographical writing to provide a deep insight into their inner lives and
convey their perception of feminine identities as freed from patriarchal worldview and
ostracism. This work contains three chapters. The first chapter is dedicated to the exploration
of the socio-political contexts in the narratives. The second chapter retraces the inward and
outward journeys undertaken by the two protagonists in their quests of self-fulfilment. The
third chapter tackles the representation of the writers’ identity through their fictional doubles.
As a conclusion, it is found that, though the two novels belong to two different literary
traditions and backgrounds, they convey women’s need to share their experiences in order to
make their voices audible.
Description
30cm ; 64p.
Keywords
Charlotte Brontë’s Villette, Taos Amrouche’s Jacinthe Noire, autobiography, autobiographical novel, identity
Citation
Comparative Literature