A Change of Clothes: Attempting to Break the Dress Code of Jump and Other Stories

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Abstract

This papers offers a close reading of several stories included in Jump and Other Stories, concentrating on the main imagery used by Gordimer to elucidate the movement taking place along the stories. In particular, it seeks to show how pieces of garment serve as metaphors for the paths chosen by the different protagonists and the cultural and social institutions whose conventions they practice. A focus will be placed on the various institutions referred to throughout these stories, e.g., marriage, prison, holiday, parenthood, home, religion, which are poetically hinted at by means of clothing items and accessories, ranging from trousers and a warm coat to an old doek. This use of imagery will be read bearing in mind Gilbert's notions, stating that costume imagery used by modernist women writers tends to be "radically revisionary in a political as well as a literary sense" (1980).
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationNadine Gordimer, Jump and Other Stories: Parcours critiques
EditorsGutleben Christian, Guignery Vanessa
Place of PublicationFrance
PublisherL'Harmattan
Pages137
Number of pages148
Volume34
Edition3
ISBN (Print)978-2-343-16265-2
StatePublished - 2018

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