Anti-Modern Femininity and Vampiric Masculinity in Sorana Gurian’s Short Story “Vila Myosotis” Cover Image

Feminitatea antimodernă și masculinitatea vampirică în nuvela Soranei Gurian „Vila Myosotis”
Anti-Modern Femininity and Vampiric Masculinity in Sorana Gurian’s Short Story “Vila Myosotis”

Author(s): Tomasz Krupa
Subject(s): Gender Studies, Romanian Literature, Theory of Literature
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego
Keywords: modern; femininities; masculinities; vampire; Romanian literature; feminist literary criticism; criticism of psychoanalysis;

Summary/Abstract: In Sorana Gurian’s early French and Romanian writing, feminine subjectivities are pushed into an anti- modern position by an oppressive modern discourse, resulting in feelings of displacement and trans- planting that lead to a paradoxical posture which is both progressive and reactionary. Through Vila Myosotis ([1939] 1946), Gurian explores the possibility of reconciling with oneself by returning to the past. However, her escape into the world of dreams awakens repressed desires and origins. This reac- tionary tendency seeks to establish empathy in the face of progress and modernity, and it allows for the creation of an autonomous female subjectivity that challenges the dominant discourse of masculinity, portrayed here through vampiric imagery.

  • Issue Year: 2023
  • Issue No: Sp. Iss. 2
  • Page Range: 183-190
  • Page Count: 8
  • Language: Romanian