Giorgia Scribellito | University of Warsaw (original) (raw)
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Papers by Giorgia Scribellito
Analyze, 2022
This article analyses Zami (1982) by Audre Lorde in light of feminism and interculturalism and th... more This article analyses Zami (1982) by Audre Lorde in light of feminism and interculturalism and the "Bildungsroman." Specifically, it considers Zami as a Bildungsroman although as defined by the author this book is a mythical-auto/biography. The article argues that, although in the form of an autobiography, Lorde describes how she achieves "Bildung." In particular, highlighting the complexity that transpires from this work, the article argues that Lorde had multiple identities, which she struggled to balance and after all, she was a complex person with a well-defined identity as a lesbian, Caribbean, and "black/mixed" woman. Although defined in many different ways in terms of genre, Zami offers innovative and challenging visions of "gender" and sexuality, which are still actual today and lay the ground for important reflections on current American, but also European, African, and Latin American societies, in general for society at large. Ultimately, this article argues that Zami is a complex Bildungsroman.
This article analyzes Lucy (1990) by Jamaica Kincaid in terms of the intercultural Bildungsroman ... more This article analyzes Lucy (1990) by Jamaica Kincaid in terms of the intercultural Bildungsroman basing on Mikhail Bakhtin’s characterization of the coming-of-age genre. Focusing on the relationship between the characters, it highlights the tension between contrasting feminist views. Seeking to emphasize how an intercultural vision contributes innovative perspectives on society, this paper argues that the eponymous protagonist of the novel has to find a way to reconcile the American culture with her Antiguan culture in her own feminist and postcolonial terms -an intercultural perspective. On the one hand, the relationship between Lucy and Mariah—her employer—reflects a tension between second-wave and third-wave feminism, which, the heroine eventually reconciles opening up the path for a unified vision of the feminist movement. Lucy’s postcolonial vision, in particular, is similar to that articulated by Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak. On the other hand, the strain between Lucy and her mo...
This book conducts a critical analysis of Jamaica Kincaid's writing A Small Place (1988). It ... more This book conducts a critical analysis of Jamaica Kincaid's writing A Small Place (1988). It researches the history and culture of Antigua to offer an explanation behind Jamaica Kincaid' angry writing. It also analyses the structure and content of the bood putting it in relation to others books written by the same author. The argument is that A Small Place is a complex book that offers numerous insights: historical, literary and political.
This essay would not have been possible without the comments of Professor Stephen Ellenburg and P... more This essay would not have been possible without the comments of Professor Stephen Ellenburg and Professor Preston Smith and without the help of Professor Lois Brown, who agreed to be my third reader. My gratitude goes to Professor Stephen Ellenburg in particular for the precious lessons I have learnt from him, for his invaluable teaching, and for his support and suggestions as I was writing this essay.
Explorations: A Journal of Language and Literature
In this article I analyze interlingualism in the books Bird of Paradise-How I Became a Latina (20... more In this article I analyze interlingualism in the books Bird of Paradise-How I Became a Latina (2013) by Raquel Cepeda and How the García Girls Lost their Accent (1991) by Julia Álvarez. I argue that interlingualism is a form of interculturalism and that it is present and vibrant in these two books. The type of interlingualism that is present is Spanglish and in particular code-switching. Spanglish is employed to a certain extent in Bird of Paradise and widely used in How the García Girls Lost their Accent. In both books, however, it assumes a very significant role for the protagonists. It reflects their hybrid identity and the creation of a sense of community among bilingual speakers. I start by describing the meaning of interculturalism and compare it with multiculturalism to provide a clear definition and I proceed with an analysis of the language employed in these two texts.
The intercultural Bildungsroman as a platform for a hybrid feminist epistemology in Jamaica Kinca... more The intercultural Bildungsroman as a platform for a hybrid feminist epistemology in Jamaica Kincaid's Lucy (1990): The (im)possibility of a unified feminist movement ABSTRACT. This article analyzes Lucy (1990) by Jamaica Kincaid in terms of the intercultural Bildungsroman basing on Mikhail Bakhtin's characterization of the coming-of-age genre. Focusing on the relationship between the characters, it highlights the tension between contrasting feminist views. Seeking to emphasize how an intercultural vision contributes innovative perspectives on society, this paper argues that the eponymous protagonist of the novel has to find a way to reconcile the American culture with her Antiguan culture in her own feminist and postcolonial terms-an intercultural perspective. On the one hand, the relationship between Lucy and Mariah-her employer-reflects a tension between second-wave and third-wave feminism, which, the heroine eventually reconciles opening up the path for a unified vision of the feminist movement. Lucy's postcolonial vision, in particular, is similar to that articulated by Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak. On the other hand, the strain between Lucy and her mother is related to the heroine's endorsement of second-wave feminist views as articulated by Betty Friedan and other feminist theorists of the 1960s and 1970s. In general, this novel develops an important vision for the global feminist movement.
Explorations, 2018
In this article I analyze interlingualism in the books Bird of Paradise-How I Became a Latina (20... more In this article I analyze interlingualism in the books Bird of Paradise-How I Became a Latina (2013) by Raquel Cepeda and How the García Girls Lost their Accent (1991) by Julia Álvarez. I argue that interlingualism is a form of interculturalism and that it is present and vibrant in these two books. The type of interlingualism that is present is Spanglish and in particular code-switching. Spanglish is employed to a certain extent in Bird of Paradise and widely used in How the García Girls Lost their Accent. In both books, however, it assumes a very significant role for the protagonists. It reflects their hybrid identity and the creation of a sense of community among bilingual speakers. I start by describing the meaning of interculturalism and compare it with multiculturalism to provide a clear definition and I proceed with an analysis of the language employed in these two texts.
Analyze, 2022
This article analyses Zami (1982) by Audre Lorde in light of feminism and interculturalism and th... more This article analyses Zami (1982) by Audre Lorde in light of feminism and interculturalism and the "Bildungsroman." Specifically, it considers Zami as a Bildungsroman although as defined by the author this book is a mythical-auto/biography. The article argues that, although in the form of an autobiography, Lorde describes how she achieves "Bildung." In particular, highlighting the complexity that transpires from this work, the article argues that Lorde had multiple identities, which she struggled to balance and after all, she was a complex person with a well-defined identity as a lesbian, Caribbean, and "black/mixed" woman. Although defined in many different ways in terms of genre, Zami offers innovative and challenging visions of "gender" and sexuality, which are still actual today and lay the ground for important reflections on current American, but also European, African, and Latin American societies, in general for society at large. Ultimately, this article argues that Zami is a complex Bildungsroman.
This article analyzes Lucy (1990) by Jamaica Kincaid in terms of the intercultural Bildungsroman ... more This article analyzes Lucy (1990) by Jamaica Kincaid in terms of the intercultural Bildungsroman basing on Mikhail Bakhtin’s characterization of the coming-of-age genre. Focusing on the relationship between the characters, it highlights the tension between contrasting feminist views. Seeking to emphasize how an intercultural vision contributes innovative perspectives on society, this paper argues that the eponymous protagonist of the novel has to find a way to reconcile the American culture with her Antiguan culture in her own feminist and postcolonial terms -an intercultural perspective. On the one hand, the relationship between Lucy and Mariah—her employer—reflects a tension between second-wave and third-wave feminism, which, the heroine eventually reconciles opening up the path for a unified vision of the feminist movement. Lucy’s postcolonial vision, in particular, is similar to that articulated by Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak. On the other hand, the strain between Lucy and her mo...
This book conducts a critical analysis of Jamaica Kincaid's writing A Small Place (1988). It ... more This book conducts a critical analysis of Jamaica Kincaid's writing A Small Place (1988). It researches the history and culture of Antigua to offer an explanation behind Jamaica Kincaid' angry writing. It also analyses the structure and content of the bood putting it in relation to others books written by the same author. The argument is that A Small Place is a complex book that offers numerous insights: historical, literary and political.
This essay would not have been possible without the comments of Professor Stephen Ellenburg and P... more This essay would not have been possible without the comments of Professor Stephen Ellenburg and Professor Preston Smith and without the help of Professor Lois Brown, who agreed to be my third reader. My gratitude goes to Professor Stephen Ellenburg in particular for the precious lessons I have learnt from him, for his invaluable teaching, and for his support and suggestions as I was writing this essay.
Explorations: A Journal of Language and Literature
In this article I analyze interlingualism in the books Bird of Paradise-How I Became a Latina (20... more In this article I analyze interlingualism in the books Bird of Paradise-How I Became a Latina (2013) by Raquel Cepeda and How the García Girls Lost their Accent (1991) by Julia Álvarez. I argue that interlingualism is a form of interculturalism and that it is present and vibrant in these two books. The type of interlingualism that is present is Spanglish and in particular code-switching. Spanglish is employed to a certain extent in Bird of Paradise and widely used in How the García Girls Lost their Accent. In both books, however, it assumes a very significant role for the protagonists. It reflects their hybrid identity and the creation of a sense of community among bilingual speakers. I start by describing the meaning of interculturalism and compare it with multiculturalism to provide a clear definition and I proceed with an analysis of the language employed in these two texts.
The intercultural Bildungsroman as a platform for a hybrid feminist epistemology in Jamaica Kinca... more The intercultural Bildungsroman as a platform for a hybrid feminist epistemology in Jamaica Kincaid's Lucy (1990): The (im)possibility of a unified feminist movement ABSTRACT. This article analyzes Lucy (1990) by Jamaica Kincaid in terms of the intercultural Bildungsroman basing on Mikhail Bakhtin's characterization of the coming-of-age genre. Focusing on the relationship between the characters, it highlights the tension between contrasting feminist views. Seeking to emphasize how an intercultural vision contributes innovative perspectives on society, this paper argues that the eponymous protagonist of the novel has to find a way to reconcile the American culture with her Antiguan culture in her own feminist and postcolonial terms-an intercultural perspective. On the one hand, the relationship between Lucy and Mariah-her employer-reflects a tension between second-wave and third-wave feminism, which, the heroine eventually reconciles opening up the path for a unified vision of the feminist movement. Lucy's postcolonial vision, in particular, is similar to that articulated by Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak. On the other hand, the strain between Lucy and her mother is related to the heroine's endorsement of second-wave feminist views as articulated by Betty Friedan and other feminist theorists of the 1960s and 1970s. In general, this novel develops an important vision for the global feminist movement.
Explorations, 2018
In this article I analyze interlingualism in the books Bird of Paradise-How I Became a Latina (20... more In this article I analyze interlingualism in the books Bird of Paradise-How I Became a Latina (2013) by Raquel Cepeda and How the García Girls Lost their Accent (1991) by Julia Álvarez. I argue that interlingualism is a form of interculturalism and that it is present and vibrant in these two books. The type of interlingualism that is present is Spanglish and in particular code-switching. Spanglish is employed to a certain extent in Bird of Paradise and widely used in How the García Girls Lost their Accent. In both books, however, it assumes a very significant role for the protagonists. It reflects their hybrid identity and the creation of a sense of community among bilingual speakers. I start by describing the meaning of interculturalism and compare it with multiculturalism to provide a clear definition and I proceed with an analysis of the language employed in these two texts.