Ghostly Visitations in Contemporary Short Fiction by WomenFay Weldon, Janice Galloway and Ali Smith

  1. Jorge Sacido-Romero 1
  1. 1 Universidade de Santiago de Compostela
    info

    Universidade de Santiago de Compostela

    Santiago de Compostela, España

    ROR https://ror.org/030eybx10

Revista:
Atlantis: Revista de la Asociación Española de Estudios Anglo-Norteamericanos

ISSN: 0210-6124

Ano de publicación: 2016

Volume: 38

Número: 2

Páxinas: 83-102

Tipo: Artigo

Outras publicacións en: Atlantis: Revista de la Asociación Española de Estudios Anglo-Norteamericanos

Resumo

Desde finales del siglo XIX el género del relato breve de fantasmas ha servido de medio para la exploración de inquietudes femeninas. Las historias de fantasmas escritas por mujeres están protagonizadas por heroínas rondadas por espectros que encarnan tensiones internas relacionadas con la asunción de roles femeninos impuestos por la sociedad. El presente artículo analiza tres relatos de Fay Weldon, Janice Galloway y Ali Smith con la intención de demostrar que las escritoras contemporáneas continúan explotando el potencial del género para cuestionar la norma establecida y para articular conflictos personales, intergeneracionales e históricos. Al igual que en los relatos de sus predecesoras, los efectos de la liminalidad inquietante del fantasma literario varían en cada uno de los casos aquí tratados. Así, el espectro en “A Good Sound Marriage” de Weldon (1991) funciona como una portavoz cuestionada de la ideología sexual tradicional, el fantasma onírico en “it was” de Galloway (1991) es la representación del deseo inconsciente, mientras que el doppelgänger en “The Hanging Girl” de Smith (1999), a pesar de su espectralidad, habita un mundo menos vacío y más amable que el de las personas reales de carne y hueso.

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