The Witches’ Catoptric Reading: Gothic and Feminism in Isak Dinesen’s “The Deluge at Norderney”
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5007/2175-7917.2025.e100803Keywords:
Scandinavian literature, Isak Dinesen, Karen Blixen, feminism, gothicAbstract
Isak Dinesen, pseudonym of Karen Blixen (1885-1962), is among the main Danish writers of the 20th century. Her thoughts on “the question of women” are original and controversial, at times seeming conservative and androcentric, at others innovative and feminist. This article aims to present these ideas and think along with them by analyzing the character Calypso from the tale “The Deluge at Norderney”, published in 1934 in the book Seven Gothic Tales. The article will also establish an important relationship that occurs in this character between feminism and the Gothic literary movement. Dinesen writes a pastiche of Gothic novels to tell the story of Calypso, a young woman who breaks free from a misogynistic environment to find her strength and independence in her femininity, refusing to become a “castrated man”. This article will look at how the Gothic was revolutionary in matters of gender and sexuality, so Dinesen's choice to draw inspiration from this literary movement to address these issues was very appropriate.
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