Wise Children and The Blind Assassin: fictional (auto)biographies

Vol.42,No.2(2016)

Katarína Labudová

https://doi.org/10.5817/BSE2016-2-2

Stable URL (handle):
http://hdl.handle.net/11222.digilib/136094

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Abstract
In Wise Children and The Blind Assassin, Carter and Atwood portray older women who narrate their (fictional) life-stories with the freedom and confidence of their age. They tell their versions, now free from the fear of the gaze of the audience and men. Through Dora in Wise Children and Iris in The Blind Assassin, Carter and Atwood draw attention to the relevance of (auto)biography for aging women and their need to find their voice and articulate their story, to be heard and to make sense of their lives. Carter and Atwood raise the issue of bodily changes and their effects on the sense of self. Elderly narrators, Dora and Iris, combat the official history that has previously marginalized and/or silenced them and their sisters, Nora and Laura. As narrators, they offer their own versions of truth, often transgressing the boundaries between fact and fantasy, and inviting readers to co-create their story. As I show, Dora and Iris avoid being caught in a single meaning. I suggest that Dora and Iris inscribe their elderly women's bodies and selves into their stories to produce the multilayered texts of their fictional autobiographies.

Keywords:
Angela Carter; Margaret Atwood; Wise Children; The Blind Assassin; aging female body; scrapbook self

Pages:
21–34
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