Date of Award
Spring 5-8-2020
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
English
First Advisor
Adele Davidson
Second Advisor
Sergei Lobanov-Rostovsky
Third Advisor
Jesse Matz
Abstract
Comics is a male-dominated field which often explores masculine themes and defines ideal masculinities, however the hybrid form of art and literature also aligns beautifully with second wave French feminist theorist Hélène Cixous’ concept of “l’écriture féminine” or “feminine writing.” Cixous argues that feminine writing has the ability to ground writers in their bodies, represent that which is repressed, overcome hegemonic ideals of singular truth and individuality, and proliferate meaning and subjectivities. Chris Ware’s Building Stories and many of Lynda Barry’s works consider themes of female embodiment and implicate readers in the creative process of meaning-making. The following essay explores the relative success of Ware and Barry to achieve feminine writing through their experimentations with the comic form.
Recommended Citation
King-Epping, Baxter, "Proliferating Subjectivities: The Work of Chris Ware and Lynda Barry as “L’Écriture Féminine”" (2020). Honors Theses. 247.
https://digital.kenyon.edu/honorstheses/247
Rights Statement
All rights reserved. This copy is provided to the Kenyon Community solely for individual academic use. For any other use, please contact the copyright holder for permission.