The Feminist New Historicist Approach in Nadine Gordimer's The Pickup

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15811225

Abstract

The fundamental premise of this research is to conduct an analytical study of The Pickup (2011) by Nadine Gordimer in the light of Feminist New Historicism to emphasize the necessity of recognizing, interpreting, and integrating women's contributions into scholarly discourse. How far does Gordimer present a feminist new historicist vision of the community of South Africa in the post-apartheid era? To investigate this question, a systematic approach will be employed to discuss Feminist New Historicism and its application to South African literature by scrutinizing The Pickup. Given that gender analysis is greatly influenced by Foucauldian perspectives and prevailing concerns in self-fashioning processes, Stephen Greenblatt initiates an effort to reconceptualize the interconnection between New Historicism and third-wave feminism to achieve reconciliation between them. Feminist New Historicism is a cultural practice that is concerned with gender erasure and an emancipatory strategy for enunciating women's voices in marginalized societies as an attempt to exceed the limits of the development of women in third-world communities. Women should find a place for themselves in competitive and masculine communities where men use their power of masculinity as evidence of their control and superiority. As a reaction, women successfully struggle against such domineering power and, consequently, are transformed from empowerment to disempowerment. Throughout the novel, Gordimer articulates the dire conditions of the Eastern and Western women in the third world by depicting the characters of Julie and Ibrahim's mother and sisters, revealing how they overcome the miserable situations imposed on them by patriarchal power. Ultimately, Gordimer illustrates women's quest for empowerment within the post-apartheid political and societal framework, delineating religion, silence, language, and land as effective means of resistance against oppressive dominant ideologies. In essence, Feminist New Historicism is considered a hopeful attempt to avoid traditionalism in reading women's history under patriarchal control.