Abstract
Shachar introduces a new way of conceptualising the gender politics that underlie many literary biopics by arguing that the figure of the female writer has come to represent a larger Western discourse of trauma. Examining films including The Hours (2002), Sylvia (2003), Iris (2001), and An Angel at My Table (1990), as well as the BBC mini-series, Life in Squares (2015), she traces how the female writer has become aligned in contemporary culture with a quasi-religious representation, linked with themes of mourning, resurrection, and renewal. Drawing from earlier studies of the role of English literature during the interwar years as a cohesive national ideology during a time of crisis, Shachar argues that the body and persona of the female writer have now assumed the role of ‘saviour’ of Western culture, representing the uncertain logic of the times.
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Shachar, H. (2019). Feminine Authorial Mournings: The Female Writer on Screen and the Trauma of the Present. In: Screening the Author. Palgrave Studies in Adaptation and Visual Culture. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18850-4_4
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