Author Type

Graduate Student

Date of Award

1994

Document Type

Thesis

Publication Status

Version of Record

Submission Date

October 2026

Thesis/Dissertation Advisor [Chair]

Hokenson, Jan W.

Abstract

The well-known Grimms' fairy tale "Sleeping Beauty" forms the subtext of two recent literary works, Rosario Ferre's novella "La bella durmiente" (1976) and Margaret Atwood's short story "Bluebeard's Egg" (1983). Both contemporary authors suggest that certain negative aspects inherent in the Sleeping Beauty paradigm should not persist in women's literature, unless the texts lead to transformation and self-realization of the heroines. This study demonstrates how the authors expose the fallacy in the paradigm, depart from it, and refigure it by transforming their heroines into characters quite distinct from the Grimm prototype. This study also suggests that Ferre's and Atwood's works serve as prototypes for feminine texts. As the characters distance themselves from hegemonic patriarchal traditions, each author's work is also removed from the referent of masculine literary traditions and returned to its origins, the oral tale.

Extent

99 p.

Comments

Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters|FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection|Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 1994.|Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters

Identifier

FADT15105

Format

pdf

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