Identity Transformation in A Married Woman: A Genettean-Bakhtinian Critical Study

The aim of the present paper is to examine feminist narrative discourse in Manju Kapur’s A Married Woman (۲۰۰۲) within a theoretical context set by Gerard Genette’s narrative discourse and Mikhail Bakhtin’s chronotope. Genette’s narratology especially his convictions on the narrative structure has formed many of the ensuing discussions in narrative discourse. Bakhtin’s chronotope, defined as the interconnectedness of temporal and spatial elements in a literary work, sheds light on the impact of time and space on the decisions and behaviors of characters. The central question of this research is: How does a Genettean-Bakhtinian critical approach elaborate on the feminist discourse – particularly the identity crisis – in Kapur’s novel? In order to answer these questions, the research applies various aspects of Genette’s narrative discourse and Bakhtin’s chronotope to A Married Woman. It focuses on such key terms as time, space, identity crisis and patriarchal system. The present article shows that the historical backdrop of the novel which involves the Partition and the Independence of India plays a key role in the formation of its feminist narrative discourse. It also demonstrates that Bakhtinian chronotope and Genettean prolepsis and analepsis works to depict the widening gap between the two generation of women in the novel.

Keywords:

Feminist narrative discourse , Chronotope , Prolepsis , Analepsis , Patriarchal system