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Modernism's Madwomen: A Feminist and Foucauldian Reading of Emily Holmes Coleman's The Shutter of Snow and Antonia White's Beyond the Glass

Moelders, Britta Maren
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1345390334

Abstract Details

2012, Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, English/Literature.
“Madness” has fascinated theorists, writers, and readers for a long time. Elaine Showalter’s publication of The Female Malady revealed the close connection between women and madness; however, I argue that our understanding of female madness remains somewhat elusive. With its intense emphasis on subjectivity, modernist fiction helps the reader gain insight into what it means to be mentally ill and confined in a mental institution. These fictional accounts of madness function as institutional critiques and can be opposed to “official” legal, administrative, and historical accounts that portray mental institutions of the 1920s as places of recovery and entertainment. Through a close reading of Emily Holmes Coleman’s The Shutter of Snow and Antonia White’s Beyond the Glass, this Master’s thesis offers an analysis of the representation of modernism’s madwomen and their critique of mental institutions and the patriarchal culture at large. In short, this thesis discusses the intersection between madness, modernism, and gender. Advancing Michel Foucault’s Madness and Civilization, other relevant theory on madness, as well as trauma theory, I contend that the madwomen in Coleman and White’s fiction enhance our understanding of madness, mental institutions, and, compellingly, patriarchy at large. While both novels offer a feminist Foucauldian critique of the confining nature of mental institutions, they also suggest that, counterintuitively, madwomen have more agency in mental institutions than in the patriarchal culture at large. Offering a respite from potentially traumatizing female experiences such as childbirth, motherhood, and marriage, mental institutions allow women sexual and creative freedom. Illuminating madwomen’s agency through an emphasis on interiority and the protagonist’s fantastic imaginations and metamorphoses, Coleman and White’s fiction complicates Marta Caminero-Santangelo’s claim that madness is not subversive. While the madwomen in Coleman and White’s fiction are subversive regarding their critique of mental institutions and patriarchy at large, the novels do not celebrate madness. Ultimately, Coleman and White’s novels offer a feminist critique of the oppressive patriarchal nature of society and the limiting experiences and gender roles it assigns women. In women’s accounts of madness, modernist characteristics such as an emphasis on interiority, fragmentation, and metamorphoses can function as a feminist critique of patriarchy.
Kimberly Coates, PhD (Advisor)
Jolie Sheffer, PhD (Committee Member)
Literature
madness; modernism; gender

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Moelders, B. M. (2012). Modernism's Madwomen: A Feminist and Foucauldian Reading of Emily Holmes Coleman's The Shutter of Snow and Antonia White's Beyond the Glass [Master's thesis, Bowling Green State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1345390334

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Moelders, Britta. Modernism's Madwomen: A Feminist and Foucauldian Reading of Emily Holmes Coleman's The Shutter of Snow and Antonia White's Beyond the Glass. 2012. Bowling Green State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1345390334.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Moelders, Britta. "Modernism's Madwomen: A Feminist and Foucauldian Reading of Emily Holmes Coleman's The Shutter of Snow and Antonia White's Beyond the Glass." Master's thesis, Bowling Green State University, 2012. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1345390334

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

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This open access ETD is published by Bowling Green State University and OhioLINK.