KMT 2022 nr 1 Download PDF

Constructions of fatherhood in Swiss women’s literature written in German in late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries

Cite: , Konstrukcje ojcostwa w szwajcarskiej niemieckojęzycznej literaturze kobiet na przełomie XX i XXI wieku, "Kultura - Media - Teologia", 2022( 49) nr 1, s. 103-119.

DOI: 10.21697/kmt.49.5

The article addresses the construction of fatherhood in Swiss women’s literature written in German in late 20th and early 21st centuries. The article conducts a comparative analysis of father figures in selected texts by three Swiss authors: Ruth Schweikert, Zoë Jenny and Gertrud Leutenegger. The literary texts in which the analysed father figures feature were written at a time when women’s writing had already become well-established in Switzerland. Apart from the change of the image of women, we can see in the texts of Swiss women writers also a new perspective on the father figures. The common denominator of these texts is the motif of a loveless society following a patriarchal order. At the same time, a new type of a father figure appears in this world; while he continues to symbolise patriarchal power and to uphold the existing order, he is increasingly weaker and absent, which essentially parallels the “letting go” of sons and daughters. The literary father has nothing to do with the strict fathers from the time of classical upbringing. Rather, he withdraws from the process of upbringing and turns his back on his paternal duties. His presence in the lives of his children is felt more through sounds and smells, habits or addictions, and is fully expressed via his absence.

About authors

Justyna Krauze-Pierz

ORCID: 0000-0002-8693-1468