Strong Women among ‘The Defenseless Christians’ : la place des femmes dans les romans mennonites Sweeter than all the World de Rudy Wiebe et A Complicated Kindness de Miriam Toews
Rudy Wiebe (b. 1934) and Miriam Toews (b. 1964) embody two generations of Mennonite writing in Canada. Although their works differ greatly in terms of style and content, both have written novels reflecting on the place of women in Mennonite society and their submission to patriarchal authority. This...
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Presses Universitaires du Midi
2010-09-01
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| Online Access: | https://journals.openedition.org/acs/2027 |
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| author | Claire Omhovère |
| author_facet | Claire Omhovère |
| author_sort | Claire Omhovère |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Rudy Wiebe (b. 1934) and Miriam Toews (b. 1964) embody two generations of Mennonite writing in Canada. Although their works differ greatly in terms of style and content, both have written novels reflecting on the place of women in Mennonite society and their submission to patriarchal authority. This article proposes an analysis of Wiebe’s Sweeter than All the World and Toews’s A Complicated Kindness centering on the stylistic and generic strategies each novel deploys to address the topos of female victimhood. Wiebe relies on pathos to test the limits of sentimentalism and involve his readers in a community of feeling. As for Toews, she aims her wry humor at the unique apartness of the Mennonite community, using the incongruous as a discursive weapon to instill a sense of solidarity with the displaced and the marginal. Both novels are consequently fully resonant with the anxieties of a national culture that endeavors to conjugate within the same space the claims of its minorities with the ethical aspirations of an increasingly diverse majority. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-78b9d60cfe4f4f8f9d37a9516f0226e8 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1278-3331 2427-0466 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2010-09-01 |
| publisher | Presses Universitaires du Midi |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Anglophonia |
| spelling | doaj-art-78b9d60cfe4f4f8f9d37a9516f0226e82025-01-30T12:34:19ZengPresses Universitaires du MidiAnglophonia1278-33312427-04662010-09-0127516010.4000/caliban.2027Strong Women among ‘The Defenseless Christians’ : la place des femmes dans les romans mennonites Sweeter than all the World de Rudy Wiebe et A Complicated Kindness de Miriam ToewsClaire OmhovèreRudy Wiebe (b. 1934) and Miriam Toews (b. 1964) embody two generations of Mennonite writing in Canada. Although their works differ greatly in terms of style and content, both have written novels reflecting on the place of women in Mennonite society and their submission to patriarchal authority. This article proposes an analysis of Wiebe’s Sweeter than All the World and Toews’s A Complicated Kindness centering on the stylistic and generic strategies each novel deploys to address the topos of female victimhood. Wiebe relies on pathos to test the limits of sentimentalism and involve his readers in a community of feeling. As for Toews, she aims her wry humor at the unique apartness of the Mennonite community, using the incongruous as a discursive weapon to instill a sense of solidarity with the displaced and the marginal. Both novels are consequently fully resonant with the anxieties of a national culture that endeavors to conjugate within the same space the claims of its minorities with the ethical aspirations of an increasingly diverse majority.https://journals.openedition.org/acs/2027genrerapports sociaux de sexeécriture mnémonitenéo-sentimentalismehumourlittérature canadienne |
| spellingShingle | Claire Omhovère Strong Women among ‘The Defenseless Christians’ : la place des femmes dans les romans mennonites Sweeter than all the World de Rudy Wiebe et A Complicated Kindness de Miriam Toews Anglophonia genre rapports sociaux de sexe écriture mnémonite néo-sentimentalisme humour littérature canadienne |
| title | Strong Women among ‘The Defenseless Christians’ : la place des femmes dans les romans mennonites Sweeter than all the World de Rudy Wiebe et A Complicated Kindness de Miriam Toews |
| title_full | Strong Women among ‘The Defenseless Christians’ : la place des femmes dans les romans mennonites Sweeter than all the World de Rudy Wiebe et A Complicated Kindness de Miriam Toews |
| title_fullStr | Strong Women among ‘The Defenseless Christians’ : la place des femmes dans les romans mennonites Sweeter than all the World de Rudy Wiebe et A Complicated Kindness de Miriam Toews |
| title_full_unstemmed | Strong Women among ‘The Defenseless Christians’ : la place des femmes dans les romans mennonites Sweeter than all the World de Rudy Wiebe et A Complicated Kindness de Miriam Toews |
| title_short | Strong Women among ‘The Defenseless Christians’ : la place des femmes dans les romans mennonites Sweeter than all the World de Rudy Wiebe et A Complicated Kindness de Miriam Toews |
| title_sort | strong women among the defenseless christians la place des femmes dans les romans mennonites sweeter than all the world de rudy wiebe et a complicated kindness de miriam toews |
| topic | genre rapports sociaux de sexe écriture mnémonite néo-sentimentalisme humour littérature canadienne |
| url | https://journals.openedition.org/acs/2027 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT claireomhovere strongwomenamongthedefenselesschristianslaplacedesfemmesdanslesromansmennonitessweeterthanalltheworldderudywiebeetacomplicatedkindnessdemiriamtoews |