Citation

Ciocoi-Pop AB. Revista Transilvania 2020; 2020(1): 51-56.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020)

DOI

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PMID

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Abstract

Complainers is one of the ten stories that make up Eugenides' most recent collection, Fresh Complaint, published in 2017. The story of two elderly women, who, crushed by the patriarchy and numerous glass ceilings defining their existence as wives and mothers, "elope" in a desperate attempt at self-definition and self-determination, Complainers is maybe Eugenides' most obviously feminist piece to date, except maybe The Virgin Suicides. The present paper sets out to trace feminist discourse in Eugenides' story by resorting to two core feminist texts, Adrienne Rich's "Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence" and Audre Lorde's "The Master's Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master's House." Through the lens of these two texts, we have attempted to prove that what Eugenides depicts in Complainers is essentially a non-sexual, but profoundly spiritual lesbian relationship. © 2020, Biblioteca Astra Sibiu. All rights reserved.

Language: en

Keywords

Feminism; Jeffrey Eugenides; Patriarchy; Adrienne Rich; Audre Lorde; Female communion; Fresh Complaint; Lesbianism