This master thesis focuses on research into women's rewriting. In this research the novel The silence of the girls by Pat Barker was compared with the classic work on which she bases this novel: Homer's Iliad. The question that was answered in this research is to what extent Pat Barker's novel The Silence of the girls fits within the concept of women's rewriting as formulated by Liedeke Plate? In order to carry out this research, both works have of course been read looking at the transformations that Pat Barker has introduced in her work. Then the function of those transformations was examined. In conclusion, it can be said that Barker's novel does indeed fall within the concept of women's rewriting. The story is about retelling by a female, marginal character. Briseis is put forward by Barker and gets a voice where she didn't have it before. The novel is partly for the biggest part in line with the emancipatory function of retelling as known from the 1970s, because the women are now heard, their characters are deepened and there is a more balanced distribution of character traits between men and women. However, there is something to be said about this last categorization. Although the women in the story have a voice, they have little or no influence. They don't change the storyline. Taking away Achilles' heroic status fits in with the demythologizing that was mainly seen in the 1990s. The use of language is probably in line with the writing of historic novels within postmodernism. In that genre choices are made that seem anachronic, but have a function. The way it is written and the chosen language is also in line with the commercial purpose of the rewriting as seen in the beginning of this century.
- Master Kunst en Cultuurwetenschappen
De stilte doorbroken: Een onderzoek naar een herschrijving van de Ilias: The silence of the girls
van de Velden, I. (Author). 17 Apr 2024
Student thesis: Master's Thesis