The Gastrodynamics of Edna Pontellier’s liberation.

In The Awakening Kate Chopin uses foodways to define and transgress the social and cultural boundaries of acceptable female behavior as well as to reinscribe woman’s identity through the culinary dimension of her heroine’s life. The novelist uses eating and dining scenes as metaphors for Edna Pontel...

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Main Author: Urszula Niewiadomska-Flis
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Association Française d'Etudes Américaines 2012-01-01
Series:Transatlantica
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/transatlantica/5307
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author Urszula Niewiadomska-Flis
author_facet Urszula Niewiadomska-Flis
author_sort Urszula Niewiadomska-Flis
collection DOAJ
description In The Awakening Kate Chopin uses foodways to define and transgress the social and cultural boundaries of acceptable female behavior as well as to reinscribe woman’s identity through the culinary dimension of her heroine’s life. The novelist uses eating and dining scenes as metaphors for Edna Pontellier’s search for her female selfhood and, in a broader perspective, as symbols of the major issue of her own fiction—gender trouble in the South. In this article I will analyze how various dining experiences become metaphors for Edna’s disintegrating marriage; how the liberating exposure to Creole culture and Cajuns’ interstitial social position allows Edna to assert her agency through culinary practices; and, in general, how her journey to self-knowledge and subjectivity within a marriage that has diminished her to non-personhood is framed through foodways.
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institution Kabale University
issn 1765-2766
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publishDate 2012-01-01
publisher Association Française d'Etudes Américaines
record_format Article
series Transatlantica
spelling doaj-art-bbd7ca9cda6a46e2bcc3808665bef6ff2025-01-30T10:44:55ZengAssociation Française d'Etudes AméricainesTransatlantica1765-27662012-01-01110.4000/transatlantica.5307The Gastrodynamics of Edna Pontellier’s liberation.Urszula Niewiadomska-FlisIn The Awakening Kate Chopin uses foodways to define and transgress the social and cultural boundaries of acceptable female behavior as well as to reinscribe woman’s identity through the culinary dimension of her heroine’s life. The novelist uses eating and dining scenes as metaphors for Edna Pontellier’s search for her female selfhood and, in a broader perspective, as symbols of the major issue of her own fiction—gender trouble in the South. In this article I will analyze how various dining experiences become metaphors for Edna’s disintegrating marriage; how the liberating exposure to Creole culture and Cajuns’ interstitial social position allows Edna to assert her agency through culinary practices; and, in general, how her journey to self-knowledge and subjectivity within a marriage that has diminished her to non-personhood is framed through foodways.https://journals.openedition.org/transatlantica/5307Kate ChopinThe Awakeningfeminist ideologygendered existence in the SouthEdna Pontellier’s liberationCreole culture
spellingShingle Urszula Niewiadomska-Flis
The Gastrodynamics of Edna Pontellier’s liberation.
Transatlantica
Kate Chopin
The Awakening
feminist ideology
gendered existence in the South
Edna Pontellier’s liberation
Creole culture
title The Gastrodynamics of Edna Pontellier’s liberation.
title_full The Gastrodynamics of Edna Pontellier’s liberation.
title_fullStr The Gastrodynamics of Edna Pontellier’s liberation.
title_full_unstemmed The Gastrodynamics of Edna Pontellier’s liberation.
title_short The Gastrodynamics of Edna Pontellier’s liberation.
title_sort gastrodynamics of edna pontellier s liberation
topic Kate Chopin
The Awakening
feminist ideology
gendered existence in the South
Edna Pontellier’s liberation
Creole culture
url https://journals.openedition.org/transatlantica/5307
work_keys_str_mv AT urszulaniewiadomskaflis thegastrodynamicsofednapontelliersliberation
AT urszulaniewiadomskaflis gastrodynamicsofednapontelliersliberation