REWRITING GENDERED MYTHS: RESEARCH REVISIT OF FEMINIST VISION IN CONTEMPORARY WOMEN’S WRITING

Abstract

This paper explores the idea of myth reconstruction with a feminist approach in modern women's literature, as an example of how modern feminine writers retell and reconstruct older tales to challenge the ideologies of patriarchy and other dominant ideologies present in ancient tales. Myth has traditionally played a powerful cultural role in constructing the male role and supporting social hierarchies. The article assumes that mythology, as a conceptual framework, with the help of female writers, can critique the nature of gender roles in society and thus shed light on the process of world-making through myths and storytelling. Traditional canonical literature presents women as either silent, peripheral, or symbolic. In this respect, this paper explores the rewriting of these ancient tales to reclaim female voice, agency, and subjectivity. At the centre of this debate is the concept of re-vision, proposed by Adrienne Rich, which holds that rewriting is a reflective process marked by new critical awareness. Characters like Penelope and Circe are situated within narrative patterns that underlie the predominance of masculine power and the absence of the female voice in society. Therefore, the article examines works by Margaret Atwood, Kamila Shamsie, and Madeline Miller to illustrate how feminist rewritings operate.