THE QUESTION OF IDENTITY IN FEMINIST LITERATURE: SEX, GENDER AND DESIRE BETWEEN NEGATION AND NEGOTIATION IN SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR'S THE SECOND SEX / LA QUESTION DE L'IDENTITÉ DANS LA LITTÉRATURE FÉMINISTE : SEXE, GENRE ET DÉSIR ENTRE NÉGATION ET NÉGOCIATION DANS LE DEUXIÈME SEXE DE SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR
Abstract
No one can abnegate that identity is one of the most esoteric nomenclatures that we can ever encounter, since it is not attached to specific maxims or determined within a set of fixed standards and criteria. It is an ontological question that manifests its theoretical and empirical mechanisms within an interpretive, integrative and critical status quo. In fact, it is a connotative representation of otherness that questions the self within an emotive and cognitive substratum that deciphers the common conceptual and structural apodicticity. Then, it is a panoptic introspection that deals with individuality within societal disquisitions. Moreover, it conjures up a plethora of fields (politics, culture, education, religion, industry, etc.)and deals with manifold issues that relate to our conscious and subconscious faculties. In fact, it investigates many ideologies of different philosophical thinkers, cultural theorists, social reformers and political activists, such as liberal and illiberal political systems, morality and religion, individual and social psychology, racial discrimination and so on, to create a strong platform for thematic and systematic analysis. It appears in varied simulacra (Manichean, dichotomous, eternal, ephemeral, concrete, abstract, allegorical, literal, metaphorical, etc.) that show up its complexity, abstractness and heterogeneity. For instance, Feminist literature is a far-flung and orchestrated field of study that questions identity, along with referring to cultural intelligibility and the heterosexual matrix. It bases its analytical deconstruction on three critical terms that form its ideational fulcrum: Sex, Gender and Desire. The Second Sex is a subtle magnum opus that adumbrates the stereotypical and prejudicial dichotomies that befuddle the evolutionary genesis of masculinity and femininity in the contemporary world. In fact, it is a forensic interpretation that manifests its literary dynamics from three focal points that relate to the existential status of women: readers, subjects and objects. Indeed, biased subjectivity is what urges Simone de Beauvoir to declare the tone of a critic who studies gender differentiation to transmit the pure sense of diversity without difference.
Personne ne peut nier que l'identité est l'une des nomenclatures les plus ésotériques que nous puissions rencontrer, car elle n'est pas rattachée à des maximes spécifiques ni déterminée par un ensemble de normes et de critères fixes. C'est une question ontologique qui manifeste ses mécanismes théoriques et empiriques au sein d'un statu quo interprétatif, intégratif et critique. En réalité, c'est une représentation connotative de l'altérité qui interroge le soi au sein d'un substrat émotionnel et cognitif décryptant l'apodicticité conceptuelle et structurelle commune. C'est ensuite une introspection panoptique qui aborde l'individualité dans les réflexions sociétales. De plus, elle évoque une multitude de domaines (politique, culture, éducation, religion, industrie, etc.) et aborde de multiples questions liées à nos facultés conscientes et subconscientes. En fait, cette question de l'identité explore de nombreuses idéologies de différents penseurs philosophiques, théoriciens de la culture, réformateurs sociaux et militants politiques, telles que les systèmes politiques libéraux et illibéraux, la morale et la religion, la psychologie individuelle et sociale, la discrimination raciale, etc., afin de créer une plateforme solide pour une analyse thématique et systématique. Il apparaît dans divers simulacres (manichéens, dichotomiques, éternels, éphémères, concrets, abstraits, allégoriques, littéraux, métaphoriques, etc.) qui révèlent sa complexité, son abstraction et son hétérogénéité. Par exemple, la littérature féministe est un champ d'étude vaste et orchestré qui interroge l'identité tout en s'appuyant sur l'intelligibilité culturelle et la matrice hétérosexuelle. Il fonde sa déconstruction analytique sur trois termes essentiels qui constituent son pivot idéationnel : le sexe, le genre et le désir. Le Deuxième Sexe est un projet littéraire subtil qui esquisse les dichotomies stéréotypées et préjudiciables qui obscurcissent la genèse évolutionnaire de la masculinité et de la féminité dans le monde contemporain. Il s'agit en réalité d'une interprétation forensique qui manifeste sa dynamique littéraire à partir de trois points focaux liés au statut existentiel des femmes : lectrices, sujets et objets. C'est d'ailleurs cette subjectivité biaisée qui pousse Simone de Beauvoir à adopter le ton d'une critique qui étudie la différenciation des genres afin de transmettre le sens pur de la diversité sans différence.
Article visualizations:
Keywords
Full Text:
PDFReferences
Ahmad, Aijaz. In Theory. Verso, 1992. Retrieved from https://www.versobooks.com/products/1381-in-theory?srsltid=AfmBOop929yEtbGU0WsXXdrh6lH-ol1pL8FTGqECoazYinNrS8uA5HkY
Ashcroft, Bill, et al. The Postcolonial Studies Reader. Routledge, 1995. Retrieved from https://www.routledge.com/The-Post-Colonial-Studies-Reader/Ashcroft-Griffiths-Tiffin/p/book/9780415345651?srsltid=AfmBOooxs-yR6tJLGh4UnGcRd9ZBr3tLRNsoRHX2XCf6hwWAmtY37sQy
Butler, Judith. Gender Trouble. Routledge, 1990. Retrieved from https://selforganizedseminar.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/butler-gender_trouble.pdf
De Beauvoir, Simone. The Second Sex. Vintage Classics, 1949. Retrieved from https://newuniversityinexileconsortium.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Simone-de-Beauvoir-The-Second-Sex-Jonathan-Cape-1956.pdf
Walby, Sylvia. Theorizing Patriarchy. Wiley-Blackwell, 1990. Retrieved from https://openaccess.city.ac.uk/id/eprint/21680/1/1990_Walby_Theorising_Patriarchy_book_Blackwell.pdf
Wharton, Amy S. The Sociology of Gender: An Introduction To Theory and Research. Wiley-Blackwell, 2005. Retrieved from https://xyonline.net/sites/xyonline.net/files/2019-08/Wharton%2C%20The%20Sociology%20of%20Gender%20-%20An%20Introduction%20to%20Theory%20and%20Research%20%282005%29.pdf
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.46827/ejls.v6i2.632
Refbacks
- There are currently no refbacks.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
The research works published in this journal are free to be accessed. They can be shared (copied and redistributed in any medium or format) and\or adapted (remixed, transformed, and built upon the material for any purpose, commercially and\or not commercially) under the following terms: attribution (appropriate credit must be given indicating original authors, research work name and publication name mentioning if changes were made) and without adding additional restrictions (without restricting others from doing anything the actual license permits). Authors retain the full copyright of their published research works and cannot revoke these freedoms as long as the license terms are followed.
Copyright © 2018-2026. European Journal of Literary Studies (ISSN 2601-971X / ISSN-L 2601-971X). All rights reserved.
This journal is a serial publication uniquely identified by an International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) serial number certificate issued by Romanian National Library. All the research works are uniquely identified by a CrossRef DOI digital object identifier supplied by indexing and repository platforms. All the research works published on this journal are meeting the Open Access Publishing requirements and standards formulated by Budapest Open Access Initiative (2002), the Bethesda Statement on Open Access Publishing (2003) and Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities (2003) and can be freely accessed, shared, modified, distributed and used in educational, commercial and non-commercial purposes under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Copyrights of the published research works are retained by authors.