ABSTRACT In this study of Wicomb's fiction, I investigate the depiction of women's oppression and resistance in three short stories from You Can't Get Lost in Cape Town and The One That Got Away. Judith Butler's model of gender performativity and Susan Bordo's work on the socio-historical construction of female bodies provide a useful framework within which to examine how “coloured” women in Wicomb's fiction are socialised to perform a version of “ideal” femininity under the heteronormative male gaze, which is often also informed by sexism and racism. I argue that, as a result of their subjection to an objectifying male gaze and the perpetual threat or incident of gender failure, the central characters in “When the Train Comes”, “Friends and Goffels”, and “Mrs Pringle's Bed” encounter repeated dehumanisation and humiliation. The protagonists’ failure or conscious refusal to perform normative white femininity, however, opens up a space for resistance in which they are able to defy patriarchal control and assert their agency. Appropriating Butler's terminology, I refer to these instances of opposition as moments of “psychic excess”, by which I mean the subversion of the heteronormative. Ultimately, I show how the women in all three short stories harness the subversive power of psychic excess by employing it as a means of protest against the restrictions of normative femininity and, in so doing, recover a sense of their humanity.

中文翻译：

---

夺回人类的地位：佐伊·威科姆短篇小说中的性别与抗议

摘要 在这项对 Wicomb 小说的研究中，我调查了《你不能在开普敦迷路》和《逃走的人》中的三个短篇小说中对女性压迫和反抗的描述。Judith Butler 的性别表演模型和 Susan Bordo 关于女性身体的社会历史建构的工作提供了一个有用的框架，在这个框架内可以检查 Wicomb 小说中的“有色人种”女性如何被社会化以在异性恋男性下表现出一种“理想”女性气质凝视，这通常也受到性别歧视和种族主义的影响。我认为，由于他们受制于客观的男性凝视和永久性的威胁或性别失败的事件，“火车来了”、“朋友和戈菲尔”和“普林格夫人”中的中心人物 s Bed”遭遇反复的非人化和羞辱。然而，主角的失败或有意识地拒绝表现出规范的白人女性气质，打开了一个抵抗空间，使他们能够无视父权控制并维护自己的能动性。运用巴特勒的术语，我将这些对立的例子称为“精神过度”的时刻，我的意思是对异性恋的颠覆。最终，我将展示所有三个短篇小说中的女性如何利用精神过度的颠覆性力量，将其用作抗议规范女性气质限制的手段，并以此恢复她们的人性意识。开辟了一个抵抗空间，使他们能够无视父权控制并维护自己的代理权。运用巴特勒的术语，我将这些对立的例子称为“精神过度”的时刻，我的意思是对异性恋的颠覆。最终，我将展示所有三个短篇小说中的女性如何利用精神过度的颠覆性力量，将其用作抗议规范女性气质限制的手段，并以此恢复她们的人性意识。开辟了一个抵抗空间，使他们能够无视父权控制并维护自己的代理权。运用巴特勒的术语，我将这些对立的例子称为“精神过度”的时刻，我的意思是对异性恋的颠覆。最终，我将展示所有三个短篇小说中的女性如何利用精神过度的颠覆性力量，将其用作抗议规范女性气质限制的手段，并以此恢复她们的人性意识。