Australian women writers have taken active roles in the literary field under the influence of the Feminist Movement around the world since the latter half of the 20 th century. Kate Grenville rose to fame for her earl...Australian women writers have taken active roles in the literary field under the influence of the Feminist Movement around the world since the latter half of the 20 th century. Kate Grenville rose to fame for her early novel Lillian's Story representative of radical feminism. Ten years later in 1994,on reflection,she wrote Dark Places as a complementary work in the point viewof the very man,father and rapist,Albion,who appeared in the earlier novel. By reading the dark places,the inner heart of a patriarchal man and the undercurrent of misogyny in Albion's social world,the author sympathizes with and seeks to understand the inner nature of men,indicating her change in vision from initial radicalism to post- feminism which advocates understanding and harmony between men and women.展开更多
Through a detailed text examination,this paper contends that albeit Kate Grenville'sThe Secret River is dedicated to interrogate white actions in the colonial past and expects to contribute to the process of recon...Through a detailed text examination,this paper contends that albeit Kate Grenville'sThe Secret River is dedicated to interrogate white actions in the colonial past and expects to contribute to the process of reconciliation in Australia, it engages sympathy of readers through the empathetic personification of the protagonist William Thornhill,who is subtly positioned as a victim forced into morally dubious actions by extraordinary circumstances. The wrongdoing of the white settlers is normalized in a western conception of possessive logic,the plight of the Aborigines authentically diluted and minimized. This paper thus concludes that The Secret River is another white attempt to legitimize dispossession of the Indigenous and a failure of engagement in the national reconciliation process. This paper further points out that repressing the true history will never set Australia free; acknowledging collective guilt is the only way forward.展开更多
基金Humanities and Social Sciences Research Planning Fund Key Project of Anhui Provinceunder Grant No.:SK2014A364namely“The Self in a Postmodernist Context:A Critical Study of Kate Grenville’s Fiction”
文摘Australian women writers have taken active roles in the literary field under the influence of the Feminist Movement around the world since the latter half of the 20 th century. Kate Grenville rose to fame for her early novel Lillian's Story representative of radical feminism. Ten years later in 1994,on reflection,she wrote Dark Places as a complementary work in the point viewof the very man,father and rapist,Albion,who appeared in the earlier novel. By reading the dark places,the inner heart of a patriarchal man and the undercurrent of misogyny in Albion's social world,the author sympathizes with and seeks to understand the inner nature of men,indicating her change in vision from initial radicalism to post- feminism which advocates understanding and harmony between men and women.
基金the National Social Science Fund Key Project--Oceania Literature Research in Multicultural Perspective(16ZDA200) the National Social Science Fund Project-A Critical History of Contemporary Australian Literature(12BWW037).
文摘Through a detailed text examination,this paper contends that albeit Kate Grenville'sThe Secret River is dedicated to interrogate white actions in the colonial past and expects to contribute to the process of reconciliation in Australia, it engages sympathy of readers through the empathetic personification of the protagonist William Thornhill,who is subtly positioned as a victim forced into morally dubious actions by extraordinary circumstances. The wrongdoing of the white settlers is normalized in a western conception of possessive logic,the plight of the Aborigines authentically diluted and minimized. This paper thus concludes that The Secret River is another white attempt to legitimize dispossession of the Indigenous and a failure of engagement in the national reconciliation process. This paper further points out that repressing the true history will never set Australia free; acknowledging collective guilt is the only way forward.
