Anthologies are widely used throughout the study of literature. They hold a prominent place in the literary community as it provides an organized, compiled collection of literary works. Anthologies are important because they provide a published collection of works of a specific genre, which allows the preservation of these works. There seems to be a lack of anthologies regarding the voices of women writers during the Ancient, Pre-Medieval World, and Medieval World. Without Anthologies that showcases all of these different voices, they become blurred, and their voices would not be reached to a wider-range of audiences. It’s important to include influential women writers, such as the writers included in the Dr. Michelle M. Sauer’s anthology, …show more content…
The area of Córdoba, Spain was referred to as Al-Andalus, which was considered as Muslim cultural territory in the Medieval Era. Because Al-Andalus was made up of Muslims, Christians, and Jews, Wallada lived in a liberated society—able to move freely as she pleased. Both Nada Mourtada-Sabbah and Adrian Gully’s article, I am, by God, Fit for High Positions’: On the Political Role of Women in Al-Andalus, describes how women were positioned and viewed in the Andalusian society, particularly, how women enjoyed their freedom. Most Andalusian poetry shows evidence “of the very high—and very unusual—level of freedom these women enjoyed, as well as a reflection of a considerable degree of personal initiative” (Mourtada-Sabbah, Gully 184). It was perceived that many women were not restrained from any sort of barriers, yet this topic has been debated between contemporary scholars. The status of women is believed by some that it “denotes the dichotomy or duality of the condition of women in Al-Andalus rather than a particular emancipation stemming from the atmosphere of the time” (Mourtada-Sabbah, Gully 184), however, several women played a crucial role in political events. Mohja Kahf’s article, A Performance of Poetry and Prose, finds that “Arab society attached stigma to the articulation of sexual desire by virtuous free women [and] …show more content…
These lines were embroidered on the sleeves of her robe, which she wore every day to express her mobility as a woman. By wearing the lines on her robe, it “expressed her strong opinions about her own worth and called attention to her physical mobility” (Segol 160). The right side expresses her freedom of movement in public, while the left expresses her freedom of movement in the private sectors of her life. Wallada asserts her pride by assuming she is “fit for high positions” (Wallada) by God. Segol argues that the first line of this poem is Wallada’s own affirmation between her and God—she “claims her own revelation, invoking God’s sanction, affirming her belonging in the world in which she moved” (Segal 160). She feels she belongs as a woman and believes God sees her equal to others, which allows her to move “with pride” (Wallada). She feels she is able to walk free despite her status as a woman. The second line of the poem also indicates her rejection of the veil, which Segol sees it as a relation to “a sense of pride in her physical form and its mobility, again in direct opposition to the idea of female seclusion” (Segol 160). Kahf views societal expectations, in regards to women ability, as encouraging—allowing women to be aware of their bodies, however, this was not the case for unmarried women, as it was condemned to move freely. Wallada disapproved this notion and through her poem, she brought “the expression of
Another inspiring women abolitionist in the 18th century, Jarena Lee, produced The Life and Religious Experiences of Jarena Lee, which is a women’s spiritual autobiography. Lee believed God called her to preach, despite the impropriety of women preachers due to the time period. Lee experienced hostility and prejudice as she traveled and spread the word of the Gospel, but continued to fight for her devotion to faith with the intention of fulfilling her calling from God. In The Life and Religious Experiences of Jarena Lee, Lee formats her text as a sermon and associated her qualifications with her production of a religious service in order to convince her audience of her abilities. Also, Lee associates herself with male ministers because of shared characteristics and experiences.
In the Middle Ages, books, and verbal stories, were typically didactic in some way whether religious or secular. These sources give modern readers and historians’ insight into gender roles and ideals in the Middle Ages. The Book of the City of Ladies and The Poem of El Cid both informed the medieval readers of the preferred behavior for the sexes via references and archetypes. Christine de Pizan instructed women to be pious, good daughters and wives, and to behave like the saints would; while The Poem of El Cid directed men towards being brave conquerors, loyal vassals, but still pious men.
In medieval literature, the role of women often represents many familiar traits and characteristics which present societies still preserve. Beauty, attractiveness, and grace almost completely exemplify the attributes of powerful women in both present and past narratives. European medieval prose often separates the characteristics of women into two distinct roles in society. Women can be portrayed as the greatest gift to mankind, revealing everything that is good, pure, and beautiful in a woman's life. On the other side of the coin, many women are compared to everything that is evil and harmful, creating a witch-like or temptress quality for the character. These two aspects of European culture and literature show that the power of women in medieval narrative can be portrayed through both evil and good, and more often than not, power is derived from the latter.
Voaden, Rosalynn. God's Words, Women's Voices: The Discernment of Spirits in the Writing of Late-Medieval Women Visionaries. York, UK: York Medieval Press, 1999.
In conclusion, we see how this boundary between genders is amorphous yet binding as it perpetuates the male dominant societies in The House on Mango Street and Woman Hollering Creek in various forms, enclosing women within its walls. For women “[t]o survive the Borderlands”, they “must live sin fronteras (without borders)/ be a crossroads”(Anzaldua 38,39-40).
The changing role of women in literature from the late 8th century B.C. to the 21 century A.D. is evident that women have become more or less respectful in later works. This is portrayed in the Odyssey, Sakuntala and Good Country People.
The Norton Anthology World Literature Volume 2: 1650 to the Present. Ed. Martin Puchner. Shorter 3rd ed. New York: Norton, 2013. Print
One of the most famous contemporary ethnographic studies of women and gender within Islam is Erika Friedl’s Women of Deh Koh, in which her main concern seems to be providing he...
Toivari-Viitala, J. Women at Deir el-Medina. A Study of the Status and Roles of the Female Inhabitants in the Workmen's Community during the Ramesside Period. Leiden, 2001.
Men and women were held under drastically different expectations in Spain and the Spanish colonies in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. These set gender roles are effectively demonstrated through the life of Catalina de Erauso, who experienced the entire spectrum through her adventures as a transvestite in this time period. Opportunities and freedom in culture, politics and economy, and religion varied greatly between men and women. Men were capable of living out their lives independently and ambitiously. Women, on the other hand, were taught to be reliant and mild-mannered characters in the background. De Erauso shatters this idea of a woman’s role by fulfilling a life of adventure and power. In doing so, she briefly dispels the obligations of gender roles, if only for herself. Catalina de Erauso was a nun, a lieutenant, and a history-maker.
In the novel She and in the stories of The Arabian Nights, both Haggard and Haddawy explore the expanding gender roles of women within the nineteenth century. At a time that focused on the New Woman Question, traditional gender roles were shifted to produce greater rights and responsibilities for women. Both Ayesha, from Haggard’s novel She, and Shahrazad, from Haddawy’s translation of The Arabian Nights, transgress the traditional roles of women as they are being portrayed as strong and educated females, unwilling to yield to men’s commands. While She (Ayesha) takes her power to the extreme (i.e. embodying the femme fatale), Shahrazad offers a counterpart to She (i.e. she is strong yet selfless and concerned with the welfare of others). Thus, from the two characters emerge the idea of a woman who does not abide by the constraints of nineteenth century gender roles and, instead, symbolizes the New Woman.
Television has affected every aspect of life in society, radically changing the way individuals live and interact with the world. However, change is not always for the better, especially the influence of television on political campaigns towards presidency. Since the 1960s, presidential elections in the United States were greatly impacted by television, yet the impact has not been positive. Television allowed the public to have more access to information and gained reassurance to which candidate they chose to vote for. However, the media failed to recognize the importance of elections. Candidates became image based rather than issue based using a “celebrity system” to concern the public with subjects regarding debates (Hart and Trice). Due to “hyperfamiliarity” television turned numerous people away from being interested in debates between candidates (Hart and Trice). Although television had the ability to reach a greater number of people than it did before the Nixon/Kennedy debate, it shortened the attention span of the public, which made the overall process of elections unfair, due to the emphasis on image rather than issue.
Her humble background and strong demeanor as a woman encouraged other women to be comfortable with their own bodies and feel free with their mobility. On March 26th, 1091, Wallada took her last breath and left the world, yet her legacy still lives on forever as she already left her mark. She inspired many women, one of them being her student, who wrote satires about her after her death. Including Wallada in the anthology would help readers understand what life was like in Andalusia as well. There are so many poets from countries that us as students are familiar with, that we tend to ignore writers from countries that are foreign to us. Those voices become lost and forgotten as time moves on. Wallada has such a distinct and impactful voice, that it cannot be forgotten. Arguably, she is one of the most influential Andalusian poets of her time—defying the rules of society and moving freely wherever she goes. She is a true feminist icon and would be a perfect addition to the
Both Castiglione’s The Courtier and Christine de Pizan’s The Treasure of the City of Ladies advise women in the proper way to behave and conduct their lives, but do so aimed towards both a different audience and in different ways. The Treasure of the City of Ladies takes the approach of appealing to a broader range of women and addressing a wider array of subjects. In contrast, The Courtier is aimed mainly towards men and occasionally towards women, and always those of high status. The reasons behind these differences trace back not just to the execution of the books but to the different genders of the authors and the motivating factors behind the writing of them. When comparing both works to one another, The Treasure
In the beginning, Mills discusses theoretical elements and has labeled this section as “General Theoretical Issues” and the second part is comprised of analysis having three sub chapters. The main section of the book examines feminist models of the text and investigates language typologies. According to Sara Mills, language is a form of social communication, a tool to transfer information and a set of mutually decided linguistic choices in any system (Crystal: 1995, 18). Language functions as sharing of thoughts in a framework where options are equally exclusive. Mills criticizes the traditional method to deal with legendary writings which often neglect the fact that the writer has no command over the stuff, being delivered by him or her. Another drawback of this conventional approach is that only the texts which have literary worth are selected for analysis (e.g. the works of Shakespeare, D.H. Lawrence, Beckett and so on) and women’s writings for stylistic analysis are often overlooked. TorilMoi (1985) and Elaine Showalter (1978) are of the view that “women’s writings have frequently been barred from standard status, by the procedure named phallocentric