제임스의 신여성 : 「보스턴 사람들」연구

• 영문명: James"s New Woman: A Study of The Bostonians
• 발행기관: 한국영미어문학회
• 저자명: 허정애(Jeong-Ae Huh)
• 간행물 정보: 『영미어문학』영미어문학 제88호, 89~107쪽, 전체 19쪽
• 주제분류: 어문학 > 영어와문학
• 파일형태: PDF
• 발행일자: 2008.09.30

영문 초록

  Among the Jamesian canons, The Bostonians(1886) deals with politics and sexuality the most directly by capturing the "New Woman" in the postbellum age of America. The central confrontation of the novel is in possessing the young, beautiful, and eloquent Verena Tarrant which develops between Olive Chancellor, a homosexual radical feminist leading the women"s suffrage movement and Basil Ransom, a heterosexual conservative opposing it. Basil attempts to save Verena from lesbian Olive and marry her to preserve a healthy home.
  For some critics, James is regarded as a feminist writer due to his women characters with strong self-consciousness and intelligence. But James"s attitude toward the "New Woman" portrayed in The Bostonians raises an argument on James as a feminist. Is he a feminist who sympathizes with the "New Woman" character participating in the women"s movement? Or, does James agree with the male discourse in the age insisting that the "New Woman" causes sexual degeneration and "race  suicide"?
  Although James is a realist who recognizes that "the situation of woman" is "the most salient and peculiar point" in the 1880s, he does not support the feminization of American culture for masculinity will then be blotted out from the world. The fact that James"s perspective on lesbian Olive and the feminist movement is also negative proves that he agrees with the male discourse of the age on the "New Woman." To many, The Bostonians seems an anomaly in the Jamesian canon, but he might have revealed his frank and unconscious view on women in this anomaly.

키워드

핸리 제임스 「보스턴 사람들」 신여성 여성창정권운동 미국문화의 여성화 남성성 동성애 이성애 Henry James The Bostonians New Woman Women" s suffrage movement the feminization of American Culture Masculinity Homosexual Heterosexual