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12THE IMAGE OF THE AMERICAN "SOUTHERN" WOMEN IN LITERARY WORKS FROM THE POINT OF VIEW OF RUSSIAN AND ENGLAND-AMERICAN SLAVIC STUDIES
Lomova E. A.
Kazakh National Pedagogical University Abai
Abstract. The term «southern culture», accepted in American literary criticism, is a complex of ideas forming a special way ofperception of the world and self southerners generating idea of the uniqueness and specificity of the southern character.
This term has gained a huge value for the development not only of women's literary works, but also in the development of national identity in general. The study of this concept and its genre-forming function in the women's creativity the first half of the XIX century in many ways helps to clarify the nature shaped modern American social ethics and culture concepts of "American family" and "US House", as well as deeper insight into the important phenomenon of national consciousness the so- called "American exclusiveness".
Keywords: social status, national consciousness, term "southness", concept "American Family", "American Home", Southern Women, idea of "republic motherness", southern community, social function, woman equal rights, term "The New Women".
The historical period from 1880 till 1890 is known to appear the works of E.G. Jones, K. Seidel, M. Gwin, that address a wide spectrum of issues related to the theme of the reflection image of the southern woman and her spheres of life in literature XIX-XX centuries. [4], [11], [13]
Describing the work of American writers of the Old South in terms of their ideological orientation, E. Moss notes that in many respects the emergence of enforcement trends in the novels of southern writers contributed to the events of the first third of the XIX century, when after a slave rebellion led by Nat Turner South took extra effort to defend to the whole civilized world the legitimacy of the Southern social institutions. [9]
Subsequently, the first half of the XIX century, with the publication of the novel H. Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin" defensive tendency has given way to active attacks on northern ideology and ethics.
As research material E. Moss chooses the most significant works of writers of the South prewar period - B. Gilman, K. Henze, M. McIntosh, M. Garland and E. Evans and researches not only the texts of novels created by them, but also personal correspondence, magazine and newspaper articles about the issue. The first half of XX century is directly related to the general trends of becoming not only the national American literature, but also with the process of gaining social status, self-determination of women in American society and with the specific political and ideological development of the United States throughout the period of registration of the national consciousness, from colonial times to the end of the Civil War.
The term «southern culture», accepted in American literary criticism, is a complex of ideas forming a special way of perception of the world and self southerners generating idea of the uniqueness and specificity of the southern character.
This term has gained a huge value for the development not only of women's literary works, but also in the development of national identity in general. The study of this concept and its genre-forming function in the women's creativity the first half of the XIX century in many ways helps to clarify the nature shaped modern American social ethics and culture concepts of "American family" and "US House", as well as deeper insight into the important phenomenon of national consciousness the so- called "American exclusiveness".The concept of women in many of the South also owns Mercy Otis Warren and Judith Sargent Murray, who developed the idea of the exceptional role of women in the construction of the new republic.
In developing his ideas mainly in journalistic genres, they nevertheless used the form of works of art - drama and romance - to promote their ideas, thus paving the way of development of the national literature in general and women's creativity in particular.
The idea of "republican motherhood" has been further developed in the debate about the American family and the house as a stronghold of the formation of the nation, where the stability of family relations is considered more broadly as the stability of social relations as a whole and where the family house acquired national dimensions of the house, which belonged to the key role women.
Sarah Hale and Catharine Beecher also took as a basis the idea of "republican motherhood" to deepen and broaden these ideas in accordance with public demands of his time.
They believed that the mission of women is to serve as an example of moral, above all the Christian virtues, and argued that the influence of women is not confined to his home, but, on the contrary, should be directed and outside it, apply to a national home, and moreover, even go beyond it.
In contrast, Beecher insisted that the woman should not have to be active in political battles as the sole domain of the woman is home and everything inside it.
It should be noted that without exception for all the southerners in that time the question of maintaining their social institutions was directly related to the two national social trends - the movement for women's rights and abolitionism.
For southerners, both social movements was a single indivisible whole and was considered as blatant social and moral evil, since they both proclaimed the idea of emancipation, of course, correlating the idea of emancipation outright threat to its social and political institutions. Southerners have interpreted these ideas in the light of all citizens guaranteed by the Constitution of the state of freedom but in the light of the destructive appeal for the release of public duty and responsibilities.
Thus they were originated the idea of a special way of southern civilization and the place and value of women in the South.
The concept contributed to the South and women took a place in the journalistic works of Loise McCord, who discussed the issue about a different social purpose of men and women, and depicted the merits of a patriarchal society community.
The writers R. Gilman, B. Hense, M. Mclntash strove to highlighter the most positive features of the South and southerners community, portraying them as bearers of Christian ethics and high moral values of the civilized world. But in this case it was not a question of opposition to the American North and South.
The writer of the first generation sincerely believed that the North simply not familiar with the customs and the establishment of the South, and so they tried to attach to the achievements of the northern resident of southern life and thus ensure national stability.
K. Beecher puts women at the center of the home, the south American home, and by her devotion and loyalty to this house depends on the future stability of the country, and in this sense, the house becomes a metaphor for the American state, and a woman in accordance with this interpretation was endowed with important social functions.
The southern woman was taken a special important part in the contradictive process of reconciliation between American South and North. She took care of the prosperity of your own home, your family, which the expansion was understood as a southern community and, at the same time created a foundation for stability and prosperity in common American home.
Its social function was considered in women focusing on the creation of a special climate inside the house, which, in turn, would spread to the entire social body. Therefore, the main virtue that must defend the woman was, first of all, the Christian virtues of love, humility and forgiveness.
After the publication of "Uncle Tom's Cabin" social situation in the South has changed dramatically. It has become apparent complete inability to sign the agreement with the North, and it became more clearly manifest awareness of impending national catastrophe.
Meriot Garland and Augustus Evans, without breaking with the main trends of its predecessors in creating a favorable picture of the South, rejected the idea of reconciliation of North and South. They sought to create an image of the South as a "country to country" and claimed the value of the South as a national community, and the only true principles.
The woman in this case was portrayed not only as a protector of the southern home, but as a defender of constitutional rights, democratic institutions and true Christian ethical standards.
At the turn of XIX-XX centuries Kate Chopin, Glace King and Ellen Glasgow picked up the baton of the older generation and concentrated their attention on the tragic process of self-identification of the southern lady image of the conflict of values generally accepted norms and the realities of the southern community.
But they carefully preserved the overall structure of the motif of the uniqueness and beauty of a harmonious world of the Old South.
It goes without saying, the writer included in later literature - F. Connor and J. Welty, were the glory of the southern Renaissance, also continued the tradition of the image of the South pledged women writers of the prewar period.
Otherwise, the influence of these works, such as J. Welty "Conflagration" was admitted by many scientists.
In this novel the death of two southern ladies interpreted as the metaphor of the terrible fate of the American South.
The main feature of the last quarter of the XIX century was that the woman in the family sphere in the United States continued to be operated by an entity, and its involvement in professional work has transformed the operation into a double, because the rules in force in the home and at works, were based on the patriarchal model.
The patriarchal orientation of the culture and its "power" was understood in a broad sense as the involvement in decision-making in the hands of men and carried out by "male- pattern".
Gradually, the most advanced and matured educated American to came to determination to achieve equal rights with men to education, freedom of professional activity, the right to dispose of property and to bring up children, freedom of divorce and the right to vote.
The idea of women's equality in the second half of the XIX century cover a wide range of American society and finds expression in the feminist movement, which has not only interrupted the "conspiracy of silence" about women's issues, but also to identify the social determinants associated sex origin, men's and women's part in the society development and its prosperity.
The problem of women's place in society and, above all, the question of its rights and freedoms, were admitted clearly apparent in the literary and historical common parlance of the time and put forward a new concept of «The New Woman».
L. Wittman defined the concept as a woman with unlimited possibilities, which was in a constant search for and tending to drop all restrictions imposed on her by society.
From the standpoint of the American historian S. Evans, at that time there were two new social types of women: the "new woman" of the middle class and the "girl- worker," which the individuality has been a shift from the culture of Victorian general hearth toward independence, entertainment and consumption. [10, 154]
A significant number of women works written in the period from 1870 till 1910 showed that American writers felt the need to express the process of becoming the "new woman", the evolution of her life stops. At the end of the XIX-XX centuries they depicted the way of life heroines, focusing on the changing roles and functions of women in American society, and during this period most clearly manifested changes in various spheres of human society.
Among foreign scientists, whose work represented a profound and multifaceted study of women's issues should be called L. Brown, A. Bebel, K. Lightfoot and S. de Beauvoir. On the Russian side the history of women's movement in America is considered in the works of Bellskoy, O.A. Voronina, N.A. Goltsev.
There is a need to specify a number of theses, which contain valuable information about the female images created in American prose 1870 till 1910. It should be called the study E. Morozkina, V.Solodovnikov, I.Badanov, S.Zubenko, I.Lunin S.Miloslavskaya, P. Morozova based on the of D.London, researching creativity G.James, U.Howells and others. [6], [1], [12], [5], [7], [8]
S. Zoubenko and T. Morozova, analyzing literary character in the novels of G. James, noted that, "referring to a favorite image of the American contemporaries, the writer is deeply psychologically developed characters of its heroines, emphasizing in them disinterestedness and independence and trend to creating images of great vitality reliability.
V. Solodovnyk drew a conclusion that the literary of W. Howells included search and the problem of the national female character.
S. Omarov provided that "women's theme was always worried J. London, and access to it was not just a tribute to the literary fashion of his time, and was deeply meaningful, conscious step." [10]
G. Postnov provided a comparative analysis of ^ Dreiser's novel "Sister Carrie" and "Jennie Gerhardt" and came the conclusion that the image of Jenny was the direct opposite of the image of Kerry. [10]
E. Morozkina, noted that Kerry is dominated by instinctive egoistic aspirations, and Jenny is symbol of real kindness and compassion.
The material of the study was based on the work of James G. "The Portrait of a Lady», 1886; U. Howells "A Chance Acquaintance", 1873, "The Rise of Silas Lapham», 1885, «Annie Kilbum», 1888; Garland X. "A Profitable Post. The history of modern West, And the spoil of the Office. The story of the Modem West», 1892; C.Grane «Maggie: a girl of the street», 1893; T. Dreiser «Sister Carrie», 1990, «Jennie Gerhard», 1911; G.London "A daughter of the snows», 1902, «The Iron Heel», 1908, «Martin Eden», 1909, «Little Lady of the Big house», 1916, "My Antonia», 1918, E. Sinclair «Sylvia», 1913, «Sylvia's Marriage», 1914. The emergence of a new social attitude towards women, the birth of a new female identity, the emergence of a new type of women - all these signs of social emancipation has not gone unnoticed by many American writers. During this historical period, there were a lot of works rejected the traditional view of a woman and justifying its right to be considered as equal with man.
In the works created in the period from 1870 till 1910, the authors sought to fill the live image content shaped in the real world phenomenon of the "new woman".
Thanks to the ability to link the fate of the women with the reality of class society, and the reflection of such qualities as self-esteem and freedom, writers have depicted a new heroine for the literature, which was in constant search of the areas of life would help her find herself and her place in life a social activity.
REFERENCES
1. Badanov I.M. Jack London and his hero. Creativity D. London 1900-1910 GG/Diss. cand. filol., M., 1963. - 158 p.
2. L. Brown Women's issue. M., 1922. - 567 p.
3. Gwin M. Black and White Woman of the Old South: The Peculiar Sisterhood in American Literature. - Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1985. - 238 p.
4. Jones A.G. Tomorrow Is Another Day: The Woman Writer in the South, 1859- 1936. Baton Rouge & London: Louisiana State University Press, 1982. - 411 p.
5. Lunin I.E. Late stage of D. London (especially the problems of evolution of the hero). / Diss. cand. filol.. M., 1989. - 150 p.
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7. Morozov T.L. Henry James (1870-1890 main problems of creativity). / Diss. cand. filol. M., 1973. - 158 p.
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9. Moss E. Domestic Novelists in the Old South: Defenders of Southern Culture. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1992. - 249 p.
10. Reconstruction American Literary History. Cambridge (Mass), L .: Harvard Univ. press., 1986. - 301 p.
11. Seidel K.L. The Southern Belle in the American Novel. Tampa: University of South Florida Press, 1985. - 202 p.
12. Zoubenko S.V. Literary character in the novels of Henry James 1870 - 1890. / Diss. cand. filol. Krasnodar, 1989. - 200 p.
