Spaces of femininity in the novels of Virginia Woolf and Hortensia Papadat-Bengescu. The salon and the dining room
This study is an incursion in two of the places which allow a woman to unveil her character and full potential in the novels of Virginia Woolf and Hortesia Papadat Bengescu The interest is focussed on the importance of common needs of the feminine characters inside their homes and on the particular manner of fulfilling such needs, as seen in the light of the characters femininity. To that end, I mapped the places that I consider a woman is most closely related to in her household – namely the dining-room, the drawing room, the budoir, the kitchen etc.
Although the female characters in the novels written by Virginia Woolf and Hortensia Papadat Bengescu go outside their homes, too, visit many places and even travel both at home and abroad ( thus compelling us to discuss their attitudes toward outside realities, as well ) one cannot mention that the feminine behaviour – at its utmost – is expressed by the ladies of the house in the rooms they are most familiar with, in the warmth and cosyness of their budoir, dining room and drawing room.
Keywords: spaces of femininity; female characters; the drawing room; the dining room; household and private areas; ways of self expression.
Laura Marcus, Virginia Woolf, Northcote House, London, 1997, p. 49
Eroii scriitoarei circulă pe bulevarde, vizitează magazine, iau tramvaiul, se internează în sanatorii, se întâlnesc la concerte şi serate, fără a avea nici o clipă impresia că fac ceva neobişnuit. Sentimentul de surpriză, de teamă sau de repulsie cu care alţi autori priveau viaţa citadină în romanele lor consacrate oraşului, la ea dispare complet. Dimpotrivă, aşa cum eroii scriitorilor de formaţie sămănătoristă sau poporanistă nu se simţeau acasă în marea metropolă modernă, eroii Hortensiei Papadat-Bengescu se consideră exilaţi în provincie (Romanţa provincială) şi visează să revină cât mai repede în Capitală.
Ov. S. Crohmălniceanu, Istoria literaturii române între cele două războaie mondiale, Editura Minerva, Bucureşti, 1972, p. 396.
Nicolae Manolescu, Arca lui Noe. Eseu despre romanul românesc vol. II, Editura Minerva, Bucureşti, 1981, p. 52
Istorie, Critică, Teorie Literară Şi Culturală
Hortensia Papadat-Bengescu
Virginia Woolf