Exploration Of The Spiritual Wilderness

Nightwood is the masterpiece by Djuna Barnes, a classic of lesbian literature. As Melvin Friedman predicted, it became the norm of novels in the later half of the 20^th century, and influenced the artistic creation of many famous novelist both in theme and artistic features.The novel is centered on exploration of love affair between two women. Robin Vote is a being of non-sex or the "third sex", so called in the book. She flights from her heterosexual marriage, then gets involved in two romances of same sex. As a figure embedded femininity, Robin's "wandering" is a pilgrim of women's probe of identity in patriarchal society.Barnes depicts woman's confusion and suffering in the face of gender difference, and male domination as a result of the conventional concept of masculine. And she also exposes a dark, mute and cursed world of lesbian at that time.In Nightwood, apart from dealing with female experience and emotions, Barnes also shows her concern with the existing condition of human being as a whole. Particularly an effort is put to render the readers into consideration as to the dilemma of a "middle condition" in human nature between human and beast, which is projected on all figures of the book. And to either extremity will intrigue tragedy in people.This thesis is a feminist study of Nightwood. In a patriarchal society, in which woman is defined as "the other", "man's helpful mate'', women's oppression as a result of male domination is fated. On realizing the inferior social order, women cherish hopes to relocate themselves by separating from men and finding their identities among women.The thesis consists of five parts, including three chapters between the introduction and the conclusion.Chapter One focuses on the gender difference between man and women, and men's domination over women in the patriarchal society by deconstructing...