Wide Scholar Sea

Some new scholar research around Wide Sargasso Sea and Jane Eyre:

Authorial Obeah and Naming in Jean Rhys's Wide Sargasso Sea
by Peter Muste
The Explicator, Volume 75, 2017 - Issue 2, pp 73-76

Jean Rhys's 1966 novel, Wide Sargasso Sea, is broadly recognized as a postcolonial, feminist prequel to Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre. In it, Rhys gives Bronte's Bertha character her own “real” identity and name—Antoinette—while never naming the Rochester character whom she marries. This article argues that these two choices can be viewed as mirrored components of a central theme of the novel—its critique of English imperialism. This is linked to the significance of Afro-Caribbean black magic, or “obeah,” which infuses the narrative, and the centrality of language to its power. While many scholars have taken note of these ideas separately, few have written in any detail about the nonnaming of “the Man,” as I shall call him. It is possible to view these choices together as products of the author's assertion of creative power—that is, the obeah of words.

A Representação Feminina em Jane Eyre e Wide Sargasso Sea: Diálogos Entre o Romanec de Autoria Feminina nos Séculos XIX e XX
Ana Maria Soares Zukoski (UNESPAR), Wilma dos Santos Coqueiro (UNESPAR)
Miguilim, v. 6, n. 1 (2017)

O presente trabalho tem por objetivo apresentar uma análise da representação feminina nas obras Jane Eyre (1847), da romancista inglesa Charlotte Brontë, e Wide sargasso sea (1966), publicado pela escritora dominiquesa Jean Rhys. Wide sargasso sea emerge no contexto da narrativa pós-colonial como uma reescrita do romance inglês, ao dar voz à personagem Bertha Mason, apenas mencionada vagamente em Jane Eyre, como a “louca do sótão”. Nesse sentido, pode-se refletir sobre o diálogo entre as obras no que tange ao modo de representação das personagens femininas, tendo como base teórica os pressupostos da crítica feminista e do pós-colonialismo, como Bonnici (2000), Vasconcelos (2002), Reis (1992), Muzart (2011), entre outros.

The In-between Space- Alienation and Psychological Trauma: A Critical Look at Jean Rhys’ Wide Sargasso Sea and Velma Pollard’s HomestretchAndrew Nyongesa
International Journal of Recent Research in Social Sciences and Humanities, Vol. 3, Issue 4, pp: (6-12), Month: October - December 2016,

The focus of this study is examination of in-between hybrid identity and the consequent alienation on
marginal groups with close reference to Rhy’s Wide Sargasso Sea and Pollard’s Homestretch. Minorities that live in alien cultures choose hybridity as strategy of resistance against discrimination. Although it is an effective strategy of coexistence, young migrant characters experience alarming levels of psychological instability. Erik Erikson observes that adolescents who migrate during years of “identity crisis” (220) to foreign countries experience complicated cultural transition marked by ambivalence and identity split. As a result, these children attempt to incorporate here and there into a meaningful sense of self. The constant shift from one end of the identity continuum to the other in young migrant characters causes internal fragmentation that may lead to insanity. Depression, stroke and madness are recurring motifs in migration literature owing to tendency of characters to choose the in-between space. Older migrant characters are comparatively stable in spite of facing same discriminatory experiences like youthful immigrants. This study analyses levels of hybridity and their effect on the inner life of migrant characters. Using Homi Bhabha’s concept of hybridity it explores the impact of in-between hybrid identity on the mental health of characters in Jean Rhys’ Wide Sargasso Sea and Velma Pollard’s Homestretch.