Feminist literary theory is a very diverse field within literary theory itself, which is impossible to summarize in a static definition. The main basis of this theory is the fact, pointed out by the general feminist movement, that femininity is a category defined within particular structures, in time and space. Within feminist literary theory, however, two distinct areas can be identified, namely the analysis of female characters and the highlighting of female authors. Through these two fields, feminist literary theory also connects with feminist fairy tale theory. The main findings in the field of female heroines are that fairy tale heroines are always beautiful and passive, and that the main goal of their lives is marriage. As for women's voices within the fairy tale as a genre, the belief has developed that women authors bring subversiveness to the genre. Therefore the main research question of this master's thesis goes: is it true that women write differently than men, and that women as authors bring subversiveness to their tales? To get to the answer, I adopted the comparative method, comparing the work of the Brothers Grimm and Laura Gonzenbach. The analysis was carried out with the common motif of the animal groom and showed that, on the basis of the cases examined, it cannot be said that women really write differently just because they are women, but that several interrelated factors influence a given piece of writing, including the environment and the time in which the author is located.
|