Women Poets and National History: Reading Margaret Atwood, Anna Akhmatova, and Lina Kostenko

• Author / Creator

  Tsobrova, Iryna

• This dissertation focuses on the portrayal of historical events in the works of Margaret Atwood, Anna Akhmatova, and Lina Kostenko. These Canadian, Russian, and Ukrainian poets present women as participants in political events, possessing historical agency, and taking part in the creation of a national past. While acknowledging the epistemological limitations of history writing (its inherent narrative mode, ideological and political implications, and other factors), I argue that the three authors uncover the tangible link that unites two remote points in history and enhances our perception of the current situation. Atwood’s awareness of the hermeneutic limitations of the writing of history informs her literary works; however, Akhmatova and Kostenko hold a more traditional view of generating historical accounts and their validity. What unites these poets is the belief that past events have an impact on the decision-making process of future generations.
  Adopting a new historical and a postcolonial approach, I demonstrate how the texts under investigation enter into a complex relationship with hegemonic ideologies and how their position changes in relation to power structures. These writers’ poems act as dynamic forces that reflect past events and simultaneously reshape the discursive field, producing and negotiating new meanings. These works function at the intersection of the present and the past, mapping a “third space” that has a discernible connection to the past and offers the possibility of different futures. Historical poetry offers a unique perspective on past events because it describes a specific historical context that resists homogenizing tendencies. This genre amalgamates the realms of the individual and the collective, making it a profoundly private and at the same time a communal experience.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Feminism
  • Poetry
  • History

• Graduation date

  Fall 2014

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Doctor of Philosophy

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R3WW7776G

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.