Germany: Myth and Apologia in Christa Wolf's Novel Medea. Voices

Lu, Y

Germany: Myth and Apologia in Christa Wolf's Novel Medea. Voices

Lu, Y

Permalink

Publisher:: UTSePress
Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Portal Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies, 2004, 1 (1), pp. 1 - 19
Issue Date:: 2004-01

Open Access

Copyright Clearance Process

Recently Added
In Progress
Open Access

This item is open access.

Adobe PDF

Download full textAdobe PDF (282.54 kB)

View statistics

Full metadata record

Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Lu, Y	en_US
dc.date.issued	2004-01	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Portal Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies, 2004, 1 (1), pp. 1 - 19	en_US
dc.identifier.issn	1449-2490	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/3332
dc.description.abstract	In 1995, Christa Wolf, the most eminent author of the former German Democratic Republic, published the novel Medea. Voices. It takes up themes which have been worked and re-worked in European literature since Euripides tragedy, and which go back into pre-literary myth. Medea has many guises: she can be seen as the monstrous mother; as the victim of Jasons fickle nature; or as the perpetual `stranger, the woman who has given up all her origins, only to be disowned. Christa Wolfs novel concentrates on the impossibility of dialoguenot merely between different cultures, but also between the sexes within one culture. `Estrangement has come to define the human condition. In thisby no means novelgeneralization of cultural antagonism to explain what makes human society violent, there lie many unanswered questions. The hypothesis I offer is that such fictions lead to inaccurate generalizations if we take them as more than just elaborations of tragic myth. My paper will seek to narrow this focus once morein a critical senseby posing the question: to what extent does this specific adaptation of the myth by Christa Wolf reflect problems within the society of reunified Germany post-1989?	en_US
dc.publisher	UTSePress	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	Portal Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies	en_US
dc.title	Germany: Myth and Apologia in Christa Wolf's Novel Medea. Voices	en_US
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	1	en_US
utslib.for	2002 Cultural Studies	en_US
utslib.for	200510 Latin and Classical Greek Literature	en_US
utslib.for	2005 Literary Studies	en_US
pubs.embargo.period	Not known	en_US
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/e-Press
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
utslib.copyright.status	open_access
pubs.consider-herdc	true	en_US
pubs.issue	1	en_US
pubs.volume	1	en_US

Abstract:

In 1995, Christa Wolf, the most eminent author of the former German Democratic Republic, published the novel Medea. Voices. It takes up themes which have been worked and re-worked in European literature since Euripides tragedy, and which go back into pre-literary myth. Medea has many guises: she can be seen as the monstrous mother; as the victim of Jasons fickle nature; or as the perpetual `stranger, the woman who has given up all her origins, only to be disowned. Christa Wolfs novel concentrates on the impossibility of dialoguenot merely between different cultures, but also between the sexes within one culture. `Estrangement has come to define the human condition. In thisby no means novelgeneralization of cultural antagonism to explain what makes human society violent, there lie many unanswered questions. The hypothesis I offer is that such fictions lead to inaccurate generalizations if we take them as more than just elaborations of tragic myth. My paper will seek to narrow this focus once morein a critical senseby posing the question: to what extent does this specific adaptation of the myth by Christa Wolf reflect problems within the society of reunified Germany post-1989?

Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:

http://hdl.handle.net/10453/3332