KAINEAGARY’SYELLOW-YELLOW: THE FEMINIST BILDUNGSROMAN

Egbedi Martha Omotetobore

Abstract


This paper examines how KaineAgary  adopts the GermanBildungsromanform to question the socio-political challenges of her time.It arguesthat social conditions provoke a reworking of  the  genres  convention  to  account  for  peculiar  experiences.Aclose  examination  of  the protagonist’s process of maturation across geographical and social boarders’emphasises the flexibility   of   the Bildungsroman.Exploring   the   female   protagonist/novel   allows   the researcher  to  reveal  the  extent  to  which  the  selected  text  represents  or  reverses  certain features  of  the Bildungsroman.The  paper  adopts  Karen  Horney’s  psychoanalytic  social theorywhich is based on the assumption that apart from early childhood  experiences, social and  cultural  conditions  influence  personality  development.  It  argues  for  a  close  reading  and analysis   of   KaineAgary’sYellow-Yellowas   an   example   of   contemporary   feministBildungsroman.  The  findings  above  imply  that  the Bildungsromanhas  been  re-constructed within third generation Nigerian context. However, there are other variations in the Nigerian Bildungsromansuchas  ethnic,  dual  and  LGBTQ  variations  that  need  further  academic exploration,

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References


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