Foreign Languages & Literatures ETDs

Publication Date

Spring 4-15-2024

Abstract

This thesis examines identity, memory, and displacement in the exile narratives of Anna Seghers, Marguerite Duras, and María Luisa Elío. I argue that identity post-exile can be conceptualized as a continuous process of becoming, marked by a kaleidoscope of past, present, and future. Several aesthetic maneuvers such as the use of elements of form, memories of childhood, and palimpsest are shared by the chosen narratives, resulting in similar negotiations with identity. Through analysis of the authors' aesthetic focalizations, it becomes clear that their binary subject positions are modulated by the liminality and contradictions inherent in identity creation after exile. The authors portray identities challenged by antagonisms and contradictions, disrupting fixed notions of self, and belonging. My analysis, drawing from Mouffe’s theories, challenges traditional ideas of exile identities and recognizing instead the open, unresolved nature of the texts.

Keywords

exile, displacement, memory, gender, identity, alienation

Document Type

Thesis

Language

English

Degree Name

Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies

Level of Degree

Masters

Department Name

Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures

First Committee Member (Chair)

Dr. Katrin Schroeter

Second Committee Member

Dr. Susanne Baackmann

Third Committee Member

Dr. Pamela Cheek

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