Book contents
- Sylvia Plath in Context
- Sylvia Plath in Context
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Notes on Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Chronology
- Abbreviations and Textual Note
- Key Archives
- Introduction
- Part I Literary Contexts
- Part II Literary Technique and Influence
- Part III Cultural Contexts
- Part IV Sexual and Gender Contexts
- Chapter 16 ‘Minor Scandal’: Lesbian Writing Contexts for The Bell Jar
- Chapter 17 ‘Woman-haters Were Like Gods’: The Bell Jar and Violence Against Women in 1950s America
- Chapter 18 Plath and the Culture of Hygiene
- Part V Political and Religious Contexts
- Part VI Biographical Contexts
- Part VII Plath and Place
- Part VIII The Creative Afterlife
- Bibliography
- Index
Chapter 17 - ‘Woman-haters Were Like Gods’: The Bell Jar and Violence Against Women in 1950s America
from Part IV - Sexual and Gender Contexts
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 August 2019
- Sylvia Plath in Context
- Sylvia Plath in Context
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Notes on Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Chronology
- Abbreviations and Textual Note
- Key Archives
- Introduction
- Part I Literary Contexts
- Part II Literary Technique and Influence
- Part III Cultural Contexts
- Part IV Sexual and Gender Contexts
- Chapter 16 ‘Minor Scandal’: Lesbian Writing Contexts for The Bell Jar
- Chapter 17 ‘Woman-haters Were Like Gods’: The Bell Jar and Violence Against Women in 1950s America
- Chapter 18 Plath and the Culture of Hygiene
- Part V Political and Religious Contexts
- Part VI Biographical Contexts
- Part VII Plath and Place
- Part VIII The Creative Afterlife
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Contemporary readers tend to view The Bell Jar through a post-feminist lens. Kate Harding situates the novel within a cultural and historical moment that we too readily lose sight of. Harding reads the novel in the context of 1950s discourses in which the gendered roles that Esther resists are enforced by sexual violence. Drawing on mid-twentieth century rape laws, Harding reveals the disconnect between Esther’s view of events and the contemporary readers’. Where the latter will see acquaintance rape and female victimisation, the former will see sexual availability and victim-blaming. In her brave and original response to The Bell Jar, Harding brings to light the pervasive rape culture that underpins Esther’ss story, and reveals the importance of this underpinning to our understanding of the novel.
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- Sylvia Plath in Context , pp. 180 - 190Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2019
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