Two-Time Diasporic Zones in Wendy Wasserstein’s Third as The ‎University Land of the Jews: a Micro Literary Image of the Macro ‎Universal Picture

نوع المستند : بحوث علمية محکمة

المؤلفون

1 Associate Professor of English literature. Damanhur University. Faculty of ‎Education

2 Associate Professor of English literature. Mansoura University. Faculty of Arts

10.21608/mkwn.2024.450309

المستخلص

Third (2005) like most, if not all, of Wendy Wasserstein’s plays are different dramatic tableaux of the American women who are striving with the aspiration of "having it all”. Critics who are content with this level of analysis categorize Wasserstein to be a feminist and claim her Third to be the bittersweet end of this abiding theme. This paper aims at wrestling like Woodson Bull or Third (the protagonist the play is named after) with the mainstream academic opinion, not for proving the faulty classification (being feminist), but for the philosophical, ontological and psychological probation of the deep hidden motivation of this apparent liberal feminism. The study seeks to reveal how literature, particularly when analyzed within an academic university setting, serves as a dynamic microcosm that vividly reflects universal human experiences and societal truths. This paper argues that Wasserstein's characteristic feminist focus manifests across two irreconcilable, extreme temporal zones. These zones, rather than reaching reconciliation, are ontologically predetermined as strategies for sustainable living. Specifically, they offer a substitutive homeland for a diasporic female, who symbolize the Jewish people. This research applies Lacanian psychology and Žižekian ideological philosophy to analyze how the protagonist, Laurie Jameson, embodies two conflicting life stages: her established worldview and a disruptive "Real" challenged by Woodson Bull III. This framework will uncover how these phases act as coping mechanisms, creating a symbolic "homeland" for a diasporic female figure representing the Jewish people, thereby illuminating the profound connections between individual psyche and broader societal ideologies in the play.

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