| Kodjo Afagla, Heralding Women’s Cause without Trumpet Calls: Subtle Feminism in Paule Marshall’s Fic |
| 02-11-2015 | |
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Heralding Women’s Cause without Trumpet Calls: Subtle Feminism in Paule Marshall’s Fiction Kodjo Afagla, Maître de Conférences, Université de Lomé, Togo Introduction Marshall’s own comment concerning her female characters serves as an appropriate entry point to this exploration of her deployment of feminism in her art (Washington, 1981: 324; italics in the original): I’m concerned about letting them speak their piece, letting them be central figures, actors, activists in fiction rather than just backdrop or background figures. I want them to be central characters. Women in fiction seldom are. Traditionally in most fiction men are the wheelers and dealers. They are the ones in whom power is invested. I wanted to turn that around. I wanted women to be the centers of power. My feminism takes its expression through my work. Women are central for me. They can as easily embody the power principles as a man. |