Magical Feminism, Violence and Fairy Tales in Atkinson’s Human Croquet

The objective of this paper is to examine how the feminist narrative can be successfully introduced in the magic realism mode to denounce the inequality, oppression and violence exercised against women by patriarchy. Women writers have found in this mode a platform to express their experiences and p...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor: García-Rodríguez, Paula
Tipo de recurso: capítulo de libro
Fecha de publicación:2025
País:España
Institución:Universidad Pablo de Olavide (UPO)
Repositorio:RIO. Repositorio Institucional Olavide
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:rio.upo.es:10433/24434
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10433/24434
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Kate Atkinson
Magic realism
Magical feminism
Violence
Fairy tales
Descripción
Sumario:The objective of this paper is to examine how the feminist narrative can be successfully introduced in the magic realism mode to denounce the inequality, oppression and violence exercised against women by patriarchy. Women writers have found in this mode a platform to express their experiences and perspectives, challenging the phallocentric and rationalist hegemony and representing the complexity of the female experience. Then, I will argue how award-winning Kate Atkinson uses magic realism in her novel Human Croquet (1997) from a feminist approach. Far from simply substituting the authority of one dominant discourse for another, Atkinson represents marvelous elements and fairy tales structures to condemn different forms in which women have been abused and forced to endure the consequences of patriarchal dynamics in their own bodies.