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Boats for women
Abstract
Boats for Women is an original collection of poetry whose central theme is the survival of personal disasters to reach personal epiphanies. The collection chronicles a series of personal crises and their moments of resolution against the backdrop of historical figures and historical disasters to demonstrate the psychological effect of catastrophe. Central to this collection is an exploration of the Titanic disaster of 1912 as a metaphor for loss and survival. The speaker's anonymous, personal disasters are weighed against the magnitude of a public tragedy which remains a significant icon in 20th century history. The collection also examines elements of personal identity and sexuality. Tracing the process of coming out as a lesbian against the backdrop of childhood. The collection attempts to use language to break through all myths: the myth of the Titanic disaster, the myth of childhood, the myth of lesbianism, and the myth of time. The collection grapples with issues of becoming lesbian feminist identified in a society which has throughout the 20th century portrayed a negative view of women. Boats for Women examines the relationships between girl child and family, woman and woman, woman and man, and woman and society to comment on the continuing difficulties gender and sexuality impose on women in American culture.
Subject Area
American literature|Womens studies|Modern literature|Creative writing
Recommended Citation
Yannone, Sandra Lee, "Boats for women" (1998). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI9917869.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI9917869