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Hysteria and identity formation in selected novels by Fay Weldon and Nawal El Saadawi

Hysteria is a quite common phenomenon that prevailed in the twentieth century literature, as such, for its importance, it needs to be highlighted. This thesis focuses on the female authored texts that knit hysteria in the very fabric of their material.I argue that patriarchy, subjugation, sexual vio...

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Main Author: Abdullah, Omar Mohammed
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: 2016
Online Access:http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/68918/1/FBMK%202016%2074%20-%20IR.pdf
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/68918/
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spelling my.upm.eprints.689182019-06-18T01:26:51Z http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/68918/ Hysteria and identity formation in selected novels by Fay Weldon and Nawal El Saadawi Abdullah, Omar Mohammed Hysteria is a quite common phenomenon that prevailed in the twentieth century literature, as such, for its importance, it needs to be highlighted. This thesis focuses on the female authored texts that knit hysteria in the very fabric of their material.I argue that patriarchy, subjugation, sexual violation and the resulting psychologica disturbance, gnaw females‘ subjectivity and help in enacting hysteria intentionally or otherwise. Fay Weldon and Nawal El Saadawi are postmodern feminist contemporary writers, focusing on the problems and maladies of women.In Weldon‘s Praxis and The Life and Loves of a She- Devil, and El Saadawi's Woman at Point Zero and God Dies by the Nile, hysteria surfaces on female characters‘ bodies revealing the shortcomings and problems they suffer from. In this study, hysteric subjects tear the norms imposed by individuals or the society and transform from silent subjects into revolutionary individuals. Because their bodies are invaded and haunted, female characters cannot speak and even if they can, they will not be heard. Consequently, they develop a hysteric body language and reflect what their tongues could not communicate. Using Freud‘s and Irigaray‘s concepts of hysteria alongside with Kristeva‘s concept of Abjection, I will investigate what drives women to be hysterics. Is it a consequence of sexual fantasies and a result of an earlier trauma as Freud theorized? Or is it a protest that comes out of repression and silencing practiced by the society as Irigaray puts it? What role does Abjection play in initiating or healing hysteria and absolving the subject? How can hysteria be inferred through Freudian and Irigarian ideas in certain texts? Investigating hysteria according to these readings has shown the reasons that fall behind the infliction of hysteria and simultaneously revealed, through abjection, how new identities are restructured. The hysterics rebelled against degradation, suppression and exploitation using the body as the only medium of expression and managed to restructure and actualize themselves by employing abjection. Hence, this expressive subversion becomes women's strategy to reclaim power. 2016-11 Thesis NonPeerReviewed text en http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/68918/1/FBMK%202016%2074%20-%20IR.pdf Abdullah, Omar Mohammed (2016) Hysteria and identity formation in selected novels by Fay Weldon and Nawal El Saadawi. PhD thesis, Universiti Putra Malaysia.
institution Universiti Putra Malaysia
building UPM Library
collection Institutional Repository
continent Asia
country Malaysia
content_provider Universiti Putra Malaysia
content_source UPM Institutional Repository
url_provider http://psasir.upm.edu.my/
language English
description Hysteria is a quite common phenomenon that prevailed in the twentieth century literature, as such, for its importance, it needs to be highlighted. This thesis focuses on the female authored texts that knit hysteria in the very fabric of their material.I argue that patriarchy, subjugation, sexual violation and the resulting psychologica disturbance, gnaw females‘ subjectivity and help in enacting hysteria intentionally or otherwise. Fay Weldon and Nawal El Saadawi are postmodern feminist contemporary writers, focusing on the problems and maladies of women.In Weldon‘s Praxis and The Life and Loves of a She- Devil, and El Saadawi's Woman at Point Zero and God Dies by the Nile, hysteria surfaces on female characters‘ bodies revealing the shortcomings and problems they suffer from. In this study, hysteric subjects tear the norms imposed by individuals or the society and transform from silent subjects into revolutionary individuals. Because their bodies are invaded and haunted, female characters cannot speak and even if they can, they will not be heard. Consequently, they develop a hysteric body language and reflect what their tongues could not communicate. Using Freud‘s and Irigaray‘s concepts of hysteria alongside with Kristeva‘s concept of Abjection, I will investigate what drives women to be hysterics. Is it a consequence of sexual fantasies and a result of an earlier trauma as Freud theorized? Or is it a protest that comes out of repression and silencing practiced by the society as Irigaray puts it? What role does Abjection play in initiating or healing hysteria and absolving the subject? How can hysteria be inferred through Freudian and Irigarian ideas in certain texts? Investigating hysteria according to these readings has shown the reasons that fall behind the infliction of hysteria and simultaneously revealed, through abjection, how new identities are restructured. The hysterics rebelled against degradation, suppression and exploitation using the body as the only medium of expression and managed to restructure and actualize themselves by employing abjection. Hence, this expressive subversion becomes women's strategy to reclaim power.
format Thesis
author Abdullah, Omar Mohammed
spellingShingle Abdullah, Omar Mohammed
Hysteria and identity formation in selected novels by Fay Weldon and Nawal El Saadawi
author_facet Abdullah, Omar Mohammed
author_sort Abdullah, Omar Mohammed
title Hysteria and identity formation in selected novels by Fay Weldon and Nawal El Saadawi
title_short Hysteria and identity formation in selected novels by Fay Weldon and Nawal El Saadawi
title_full Hysteria and identity formation in selected novels by Fay Weldon and Nawal El Saadawi
title_fullStr Hysteria and identity formation in selected novels by Fay Weldon and Nawal El Saadawi
title_full_unstemmed Hysteria and identity formation in selected novels by Fay Weldon and Nawal El Saadawi
title_sort hysteria and identity formation in selected novels by fay weldon and nawal el saadawi
publishDate 2016
url http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/68918/1/FBMK%202016%2074%20-%20IR.pdf
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/68918/
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score 13.211869

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