Meera Syal’s “The Traveller”Its Feminist Allegory and Later Echoes

  1. Noemí Pereira-Ares
Revista:
Atlantis: Revista de la Asociación Española de Estudios Anglo-Norteamericanos

ISSN: 0210-6124

Ano de publicación: 2020

Volume: 42

Número: 1

Páxinas: 1-19

Tipo: Artigo

DOI: 10.28914/ATLANTIS-2020-42.1.01 DIALNET GOOGLE SCHOLAR lock_openDialnet editor

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

Resumo

Comprometida con visibilizar la experiencia femenina y, más concretamente, la realidad de la mujer surasiática, Meera Syal es una escritora cuyas obras incluyen a menudo un subtexto feminista. Un claro ejemplo de esto lo encontramos en “The Traveller” (1988), un relato corto de carácter alegórico que incorpora una marcada agenda feminista. Sin embargo, podría decirse que, frente a otras obras de Syal, este relato ha sido ampliamente ignorado por la crítica literaria. El objetivo de este artículo es contribuir precisamente a rectificar este desequilibrio, reevaluando la importancia de este texto dentro de la obra de la autora. Apoyándose en trabajos críticos de corte feminista, el artículo también pretende proporcionar un análisis detallado del mencionado relato, revelando y examinando la alegoría feminista que encapsula. Como se expone a lo largo del artículo, “The Traveller” se erige como una crítica a las tendencias universalizadoras sobre las que se ha sostenido el feminismo occidental, al tiempo que enuncia la aparición del denominado feminismo negro británico en las décadas de 1970 y 1980. A pesar de esto, a través de sus densas metáforas, el relato de Syal también enfatiza la idea de comonalidad, destacando la necesidad de reconocer tanto las diferencias como los puntos en común, así como la pertinencia de establecer vínculos entre la experiencia femenina en el subcontinente indio y sus diásporas.

€ Ver financiamento

Información de financiamento

1 The research underpinning this article was funded by the research project “Intersections: Gender and Identity in the Short Fiction of Contemporary British Women Writers” (FEDER/AEI-FEM2017-83084-P).

Financiadores

Referencias bibliográficas

  • Ahmad, Rukhsana and Kadija George, eds. 1993. Six Plays by Black and Asian Women Writers. London: Aurora Metro.
  • Ahmed, Rehana, ed. 2004. Walking a Tightrope: New Writing from Asian Britain. London: Young Picador.
  • Amiel, Jon et al., dirs. 1985-1987. Tandoori Nights. Channel Four.
  • Ang, Ien. 2001. On Not Speaking Chinese: Living between Asia and the West. London and New York: Routledge.
  • Asian Women Writers Workshop, eds. 1988. Right of Way: Prose and Poetry from the Asian Women Writers’ Workshop. London: Women’s Press.
  • Bhanot, Kavita, ed. 2011. Too Asian, Not Asian Enough: An Anthology of New British Asian Fiction. Birmingham: Tindal.
  • Brown, Julie. 2013a. “Introduction.” In Brown 2013b, xv-xxviii.
  • Brown, Julie. ed. 2013b. American Women Short Story Writers: A Collection of Critical Essays. London and New York: Routledge.
  • Butler, Judith. 1990. Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. London and New York: Routledge.
  • Carby, Hazel V. 1997. “White Woman Listen! Black Feminism and the Boundaries of Sisterhood.” In Mirza 1997b, 45-53.
  • Carter, Angela. 1984. Nights at the Circus. London. Chatto.
  • Chadha, Gurinder, dir. 1991. A Nice Arrangement. British Screen Productions and Film Four International.
  • Chadha, Gurinder, dir. Bhaji on the Beach. Channel Four Films and Umbi Films.
  • Chatterjee, Partha. 1993. The Nation and Its Fragments: Colonial and Postcolonial Histories. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP.
  • Cixous, Hélène. (1975) 1976. “The Laugh of the Medusa.” Translated by Keith Cohen and Paula Cohen. Signs 1 (4): 875-93.
  • De Emmony, Andy, dir. 2005. Life Isn’t All Ha Ha Hee Hee. BBC.
  • Dunant, Sarah, ed. 1994. The War of the Words: The Political Correctness Debate. London: Virago.
  • Eagleton, Mary and Emma Parker, eds. 2015. The History of British Women’s Writing. Vol 10, 1970-Present. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
  • Forsas-Scott, Helena. 2014. Textual Liberation: European Feminist Writing in the Twentieth Century. London and New York: Routledge.
  • Franklin, Cynthia G. 1997. Writing Women’s Communities: The Politics and Poetics of Contemporary Multi-Genre Anthologies. Madison: U of Wisconsin P.
  • Frembgen, Jürgen Wasim. 2006. “Honour, Shame, and Bodily Mutilation. Cutting off the Nose among Tribal Societies in Pakistan.” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 16 (3): 243-60.
  • Hanson, Claire. 1989a. “Introduction.” In Hanson 1989b, 1-9.
  • Hanson, Claire, ed. 1989b. Re-Reading the Short Story. Basingstoke: Macmillan.
  • Hussain, Yasmin. 2005. Writing Diaspora: South Asian Women, Culture and Ethnicity. Farnham: Ashgate.
  • Irigaray, Luce. 1993. Sexes and Genealogies. New York: Columbia UP.
  • Jervis, Terry et al., dirs. 1991-1996. The Real McCoy. BBC.
  • Kalra, Virinder S., Raminder Kaur and John Hutnyk. 2005. Diaspora and Hybridity. London, Thousand Oaks and New Delhi: Sage.
  • Kandiyoti, Deniz. 1994. “Identity and Its Discontents: Women and the Nation.” In Williams and Chrisman 1994, 376-91.
  • Korte, Barbara and Laura Lojo-Rodríguez, eds. 2019. Borders and Border Crossings in the Contemporary British Short Story. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
  • Mahfouz, Sabrina, ed. 2017. The Things I Would Tell You: British Muslim Women Write. London: Saqi Books.
  • McCarthy, Karen, ed. 2003. Kin: New Fiction by Black and Asian Women. London: Serpent’s Tail.
  • Mercer, Kobena. 1994. Welcome to the Jungle: New Positions in Black Cultural Studies. London and New York: Routledge.
  • Mirza, Heidi Safia. 1997a. “Introduction: Mapping a Genealogy of Black British Feminism.” In Mirza 1997b, 1-28.
  • Mirza, Heidi Safia, ed. 1997b. Black British Feminism. London and New York: Routledge.
  • Mohanty, Chandra Talpade. 1988. “Under Western Eyes: Feminist Scholarship and Colonial Discourse.” Feminist Review 30: 65-88.
  • Moraga, Cherríe and Gloria Anzaldúa, eds. 1991. This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color. New York: Women of Color.
  • Morgan, Robin. 1984a. “Planetary Feminism: The Politics of the 21st Century.” In Morgan 1984b, 1-37.
  • Morgan, Robin, ed. 1984b. Sisterhood is Global: The International Women’s Movement Anthology. New York: Anchor.
  • Morrison, Toni. 1977. Song of Solomon. New York: New American Library.
  • Namjoshi, Suniti. 1981. Feminist Fables. London: Sheba.
  • Parini, Jay, ed. 2012. British Writers: Supplement XIX. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons.
  • Pereira-Ares, Noemí. 2018. Fashion, Dress and Identity in South Asian Diaspora Narratives: From the Eighteenth Century to Monica Ali. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
  • Pereira-Ares, Noemí. 2019. “Sartorial Borders and Border Crossing in Contemporary Multi-ethnic Short Stories.” In Korte and Lojo-Rodríguez 2019, 149-67.
  • Pimlott, Steven, dir. 2002. Bombay Dreams. Andrew Lloyd Webber.
  • Procter, James, ed. 2000. Writing Black Britain 1948-1998: An Interdisciplinary Anthology. Manchester: Manchester UP.
  • Ranasinha, Ruvani. 2007. South Asian Writers in Twentieth-Century Britain: Culture in Translation. Oxford: Clarendon.
  • Ranasinha, Ruvani. 2015. “Redefining Britishness: British Asian Fiction.” In Eagleton and Parker 2015, 229-46.
  • Reid, Barbara E. 2000. Parables for Preaches. Collegeville, MN: Liturgian.
  • Reiter, Rayna R., ed. 1975. Toward an Anthropology of Women. New York: Monthly Review.
  • Ross, Leone and Yvonne Brissett, eds. 2001. Whispers in the Walls: New Black and Asian Voices from Birmingham. Birmingham: Tindal Street.
  • Rubin, Gayle. 1975. “The Traffic in Women: Notes on the ‘Political Economy’ of Sex.” In Reiter 1975, 157-210.
  • Sánchez-Arce, Ana María. 2012. “Meera Syal.” In Parini 2012, 301-14.
  • Sargeant, Jan, Tim King and Nicholas Mallett, dirs. 1985. Black Silk. BBC.
  • Schreiner, Olive. 1887. “Three Dreams in a Desert.” Fortnightly Review 42: 198-203.
  • Shahraz, Qaisra. 1988. “A Pair of Jeans.” In SuAndi et al. 1988, 43-54.
  • Smith, Barbara, ed. 1983. Home Girls: A Black Feminist Anthology. New York: Women of Color.
  • SuAndi et al. 1988. Holding Out: Short Stories by Women. Manchester: Crocus.
  • Suzuki, Shunryu. 1970. Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind. New York: Weatherhill.
  • Syal, Meera. 1988. “The Traveller.” In Asian Women Writers Workshop 1988, 96-105.
  • Syal, Meera. 1993a. “Auntie’s Revenge.” Unpublished play.
  • Syal, Meera. 1993b. “My Sister-Wife.” In Ahmad and George 1993, 111-59.
  • Syal, Meera. 1994. “PC: GLC.” In Dunant 1994, 116-32.
  • Syal, Meera. (1996) 1997. Anita and Me. London: Flamingo.
  • Syal, Meera. 1996. “Influences.” Interview. New Statesman and Society, 10 April, 21.
  • Syal, Meera. 2000. “Finding My Voice.” In Procter 2000, 252-55.
  • Syal, Meera. (1999) 2000. Life Isn’t All Ha Ha Hee Hee. London: Anchor.
  • Syal, Meera. (2015) 2016. The House of Hidden Mothers. London: Black Swan.
  • Syal, Meera and Jacqueline Shapiro. 1983. “One of Us.” Unpublished play.
  • Williams, Patrick and Laura Chrisman, eds. 1994. Colonial Discourse and Post-Colonial Theory: A Reader. New York and London: Harvester Wheatsheaf.
  • Wilson, Amrit. 1978. Finding a Voice: Asian Women in Britain. London: Virago.
  • Wilson, Amrit. 2006. Dreams, Questions, Struggles: South Asian Women in Britain. London: Pluto.
  • Wood, Nick and Gareth Carrivick, dirs. 1998-2001. Goodness Gracious Me. BBC.
  • Wyatt, Jean. 2017. Love and Narrative Form in Toni Morrison’s Later Novels. Athens: U of Georgia P.
Fonte de datos: Dialnet