Writing as a woman: Mythology, time, the weaving metaphor and symbolism in Eudora Welty's 'The Robber Bridegroom', 'The Golden Apples', 'Delta Wedding', 'Losing Battles', and 'The Optimist's Daughter'

This dissertation is an attempt to further investigate Eudora Welty's feminine discourse, a discourse which is in constant dialogue with other women writers and happens to intersect with many of the issues raised by contemporary feminist theorists. Accordingly, Chapter One is an introduction in which Welty is aptly situated in the female traditions of writing and is found to have touched upon many feminine issues raised by later feminist theorists. Also, in this chapter four paradigms are delineated. Therefore, the discussion in the ensuing chapters is based on the emergent paradigms.; The first paradigm has to do with Welty's feminine appropriation of ancient myths and fairy tales; accordingly, the discussion in the second chapter focuses on Welty's appropriation of the myths and fairy tales in The Robber Bridegroom and The Golden Apples. In both texts, Welty's heroines refuse to play the victim role inherent in masculine narrative.; The second paradigm concerns Welty's concept of women's time; it is a concept which attaches women to monumental and cyclical temporality. Accordingly, Chapter Three focuses on Welty's distortion of man's time on two levels, the narrative and the historical in Delta Wedding.; The third paradigm is Welty's employment of the weaving metaphor in Losing Battles. Therefore, Chapter Four focuses on Welty's consistent employment of the weaving metaphor to stitch together many conflicting issues, such as the relation between the myth of the land and the history of people, the relationship between the individual and community, the concept of kinship versus the outsider, and the relationship between the masculine and feminine.; The fourth paradigm is Welty's idiosyncratic use of symbols and feminine images. This paradigm is the basis of discussion in Chapter Five, focusing on Welty's use of symbols and images in The Optimist's Daughter. All the symbols and images have been found to be related to the experiential domain of women; Welty has used them in order to enact a feminine consciousness that defies the patriarchal traditions of society.