FEMININE WRITING: EXAMPLES FROM INGA GAILE AND INGRĪDA TĀRAUDA

Abstract

Female writing is a new theoretical concept, that originated within the framework of the current wave of feminism criticism in the middle of the 20th century. In 70s the terms “sex” and “gender” had a distinguishing meaning. Within the framework of Gender there have been studied female (feminine) and male (masculine) texts, that prove that, regardless of gender or experience of the author, there can be the presence of male and female writing in literary works. The author of the feminine text may also be a man. The theoretical basis of the work is formed by the research carried out by various feminist theorists: Cixous, Clеment “The Newly Born Woman”, Luce Irigaray “An Ethics of Sexual Difference” (1993), Julia Kristeva “Signifiyng Practice and Mode of Production” (1976), Valentina Maslova (B. Macловa) “Лингвокультурология” (2001), Elena Trofimova (E. Tpoфимова) “Терминологические вопросы в гендерных исследованиях” (2002), Sandra Meškova “Feminisms” (2013), Jurijs Lotmans (Ю. М. Лотман) „Статьи по семиотике и тирологии культуры” (1992). The most important female (feminine) characteristics in the literary text, that has appeared of certain feminist theorists views, are as follows: maternal element; bodily communication with the world (vision, touch, hearing, smell, taste), expressive, sensual, emotionally expressive language, diversity of forms, subjectivity in the description of everyday life, disclosure of the prohibited, which is rooted in the unconscious mind of the oppressed women. Within the framework of the article there has been put an emphasis on the presence of initial motherhood, revelation of bodily communication, as well as the lyrics of I expression variations in Inga Gaile’s poetry collection “Kūku Marija” (2007) and Ingrīda Tārauda’s poetry collection “Boltais šokolads” (2012). The goal of the article is to identify and analyze I. Gaile’s and I. Tārauda’s poetry, revealing the presence of female writing on the basis of the definite key features of feminine writing: the maternal element, bodily perception of the world through senses and variations of “I” lyrics. There has been used a method of structural semiotics to reveal the importance of individual components of poetry, as well as to update the variations of poetic images, as well as there has been applied a comparative method, that allows to see I. Gaile’s and I. Tārauda’s poetry in parallel and to identify common and different tendencies of feminine writing in their works. In order to discover the best and in depth the presence of bodily world’s perception in both authors’ poems, it was necessary to excerpt visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory and taste examples, which provide a fuller picture of the language means used in poetry (see a summary table at the end of the article). In the research process it was found that I. Gaile and I. Tārauda only partially represent a feminine writing style, that is reflected through the prism of their perception of the world – the ability to see the surrounding individually, but still in a feminine way. Although both authors use feminine writing, the poetic mood and emotionality is different. I. Tārauda’s poems create imperceptibility and airy feeling, that are permeated by sensuality and emotional experience. On the other hand I. Gaile’s poems are down to earth, urbanized, they merge into the daily routine of the inevitability and sensuality, that sometimes borders on brutality. Despite this, the author reveals some aspects of feminine writing in her works. Both authors reveal feminine writing principles in their ideas, but it is not revealed in their language.