Female Unpersons: Feminist Ambiguities in Sandra Newman’s "Julia"

Réka Törzsök

doi:10.18172/jes.6897

Autores/as

Réka Törzsök University of Debrecen https://orcid.org/0009-0001-9218-2862

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18172/jes.6897

Palabras clave:

Sandra Newman, Orwell, 1984, feminismo, ética, intersubjetividad

Resumen

Julia (2023), de Sandra Newman, representa un nuevo enfoque entre las reescrituras de 1984 (1949), de George Orwell. La novela de Newman, que recuenta la distopía de Orwell desde la perspectiva del interés amoroso de Winston Smith, interroga la representación de la mujer en 1984. La novela tiene un tono fundamentalmente feminista, en tanto que da voz a un personaje femenino subutilizado, pero también deja claro que la sociedad imaginada por Orwell es casi inevitablemente misógina en la medida en que devalúa, degrada y prohíbe las relaciones personales, borrando la propia esfera tradicionalmente femenina. En este sentido, un momento clave se produce cuando la propia Julia de Newman reconoce que, bajo el patriarcado, las mujeres son por definición «no-personas»—un término orwelliano que se refiere a las identidades borradas producidas por la tortura. Este artículo pretende explorar una contradicción inherente a la relación de la reescritura con el original de Orwell, centrándose en cómo, a través del personaje de Julia, la novela de Newman navega por la ambigüedad que rodea la posibilidad de un mundo y una ética “femeninos” viables dentro del sistema patriarcal de Oceanía, que confina rígidamente a las mujeres a papeles y posiciones específicos.

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