Mobility,Spatiality And Visibility:A Feminist Geographic Reading Of Wasserstein's Trilogy

Uncommon Women and Others(1975),Isn't It Romantic(1983)and The Heidi Chronicles(1988)are American playwright Wendy Wasserstein's early plays,among which The Heidi Chronicles crowned Wasserstein with the Pulitzer Prize for Literature in 1989.The trilogy unfolds the predicament between family and work that female intellectuals are confronted with at different stages of their lives,highlighting women's identity crisis in the face of the changing feminist ideas.Critics' reception of Wasserstein's plays has been mixed all along,among which women's self-identity catches the most attention.However,many researchers label Wasserstein's plays as feminism according to the social background,failing to represent Wasserstein's attitude to women's identity to the full.Besides,researches on Uncommon Women and Others and Isn't It Romantic are much less undertaken compared to those on her award-winning works and late period creations.This thesis endeavors to do a panoramic study about Wasserstein's view on women's self-identity by adopting a feminist geographic approach to her trilogy,Uncommon Women and Others,Isn't It Romantic and The Heidi Chronicles.This thesis is theoretically based on Linda McDowell's views upon feminist geography through a close reading of Wasserstein's trilogy.By delving into female intellectuals' mobility,spatiality and visibility,this thesis attempts to unveil the process of women's self-search.In addition,Wasserstein's philosophy on women's self-identity will come to light by probing into women's diversified ways of resistance.This thesis eventually arrives at a conclusion that like McDowell,Wasserstein also maintains that women's self-identity should be fluid and plastic.As a humanist,Wassestein is convinced that women have the ability to shake off the restriction of place and space,exploring their identities unremittingly.