Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 2002. Vol. 8. Eger Journal of American Studies.(Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 28)

Studies - Enikő Bollobás: (De-) Gendering and (De-) Sexualizing Famale Subjectivities: Woman-Hating and Its Revisions in Literature and Painting

ENIKŐ BOLLOBÁS (DE-)GENDERING AND (DE-)SEXUALIZING FEMALE SUBJECTIVITIES: WOMAN-HATING AND ITS REVISIONS IN LITERATURE AND PAINTING I dedicate this paper to the memory of my former advisor, Professor Péter Egri, who always inspired his students to bring together the vastly dissimilar

—past and present, American and European, verbal and visual, prose and poetry

—within one comparative, transcultural and transgeneric, framework. Being a literary

—and not art

—historian, my focus will be literature and will follow a seemingly roundabout way: first I will discuss American and English male misogynist and American female non-misogynist writers, identifying in both cases forms of misogyny that are either present or apparently absent. This absence is so conspicuous and striking in the women's work, that its dismissal can be interpreted as a demonstrative act of destroying icons and attitudes that our culture seems to take for granted. As such, it is exactly this absence of misogyny

—and the resulting radical act, constructing a respect for women and a love for one's self

—that I would name as the staple features of some American women writers

—Gertrude Stein, Willa Cather, Djuna Barnes, and H. D. (Hilda Doolittle)

—, as well as the contemporary Hungarian born visual artist, Orshi Drozdik. In the first part of my paper I would like to discuss some classical and familiar forms of misogyny. Misogyny, I propose, is one of the most common, subtle, and covert manifestations of hate crime. In our culture it is a most naturalized sentiment, unnoticed like the air we breath in. yet framing our discussions of personal relationships, sexuality, family dynamics, health and biology, social equality or 107